


match your tune with mine

by psychicfire



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Gen, M/M, Modern Royalty, or more like future royalty I guess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-05-13 21:25:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 45,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14756582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psychicfire/pseuds/psychicfire
Summary: Nothing in the entire expansive universe could make Jihoon tolerate Soonyoung. Nothing, that is, except for almost dying at the hands of the solar system's biggest threat.





	1. week 1

The view of the stars from the space ship never stopped being beautiful, Jihoon thought. He had gotten used to a lot of the extravagances of being a prince, but this was one thing he didn’t think he could get used to. He leaned his head against the craft, allowing himself to enjoy the view and get lost in his thoughts.

He heard a tiny noise of shock from his fellow passenger. He looked over at his assistant, advisor and friend since childhood, Boo Seungkwan. Coming from the same rural background as Jihoon, it seemed like it still amazed him, too, his nose pressed against the glass of the window.

Jihoon cleared his throat, remembering where he was headed. “Seungkwan, do you know if there is anything else scheduled after this little rendezvous today? I’m suspiciously free.” He huffed out a sigh. “I hope this doesn’t take all day…”

Seungkwan jerked up and his shoulders went stiff, turning to Jihoon. “W-well...I’m not too sure, your majesty. I’ll be headed to Earth while you’re at your meeting to do some training with their royal advisor. Perhaps I can arrange you meet me there to pay a visit to Prince Jeonghan?”

Jihoon’s face fell. “First of all, Seungkwan, I told you a million times already you can drop the act when we’re alone. I’m still me. Second...Jeonghan won’t be there? Aren’t I supposed to be meeting with a bunch of other princes and princesses from the solar system?”

“I—” Seungkwan slouched in his seat. “Actually, I don’t know who will be there. I heard someone from Mars, maybe?"

Jihoon gritted his teeth. “Mars?”

“Ah! I mean, I don’t know if it could be...their prince. Maybe someone from the council? That’s just what I heard, though.” Seungkwan gave a little nod as though he was satisfied by his response.

Jihoon, however, was not. He turned away angrily, trying to avoid thinking about interacting with the royal pain in the ass that was the prince of Mars. Kwon Soonyoung, his same exact age, was known across the galaxy for his charming and fiery personality. And to Jihoon, he was known for his unsolicited advances and aggressive remarks. He would probably wage war against the entire planet just to spite him.

“You know,” Seungkwan began softly, “It might benefit you to let go of your grudge, Jihoon.”

Jihoon turned to Seungkwan again, arms crossed. “And just how, exactly, would that benefit me? He’s never stopped being rude to me. How would giving that asshole a chance make my life any better? It’s just setting myself up for disappointment.”

“Have you ever tried, though? Just being nice to him? Or, if that’s too hard for you, Your Pettiness, perhaps just being formal to him?”

Jihoon cocked an eyebrow at him. “When I asked you to cut the act, Seungkwan, it wasn’t an invitation to be a dipshit.” He smirked. “And I don’t think you have any business calling _me_ petty.”

Seungkwan’s jaw fell. “Hey! You don’t need to insult me, either!” He pouted and settled into his seat once more. “I just mean, you don’t know what could happen if you try.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Jihoon looked out the window once more. “Maybe one day, if the stars align.”

* * *

Jihoon was not born into royalty. Rather, he was not raised around it. He lived most of his young life around rolling hills and small houses. He and his older brother Kihyun were cared for by an old woman he knew as his grandmother. His days were spent peacefully, most of them filled with innocent adventures with Seokmin and Seungkwan, his closest friends. It wasn’t until his adolescence that he and his brother were forcefully ejected from the normalcy of such a life.

“The reality is that you two are the next princes of this planet,” a mysterious man in an elaborate guard uniform explained to them. Jihoon remembered not liking this man, his appearance at their front door making his grandmother’s grip on his shoulder noticeably tighter.

“And why are we finding out about this now?” Kihyun asked defensively. Between the two of them, he had always been the one more prone to take action. Jihoon simply absorbed what was going on around him.

“Due to rising tensions, your parents wanted you to be out of the spotlight,” the guard explained. “They wanted you to live a normal life in the situation that war broke out and the royal families were targeted. They wanted a good life for you. But…”

“But?”

“Your father, the king, is in poor health. His strength and ability to lead is rapidly declining. He and the queen cannot do it on their own. It is unfortunate, but we have come to request your presence at the palace, as new members of the royal family…”

“Ultimately, is there a choice?” Jihoon heard his grandmother (which, he had figured out by now, was not probably his real grandmother) ask from the back of the room.

The guard paused. “Well, you see, it is merely a formality. Without them, the structure of this planet’s society is at risk of falling apart. I hope you understand."

A looming silence fell over the room, Jihoon looking between his brother and grandmother for guidance. His heart was hammering in his chest and his head spinning, unsure of how to respond to all this new information. Him? A prince?

“I understand this is a lot to process,” the guard said after a while. “I will give you time to prepare. You have two weeks. I will be back then to escort you to the palace, where your parents await. I should hope to see you again.” He took his leave with a bow.

Jihoon spoke up for the first time since the man knocked on their door.

“What now?” he asked.

Kihyun, with all hostility drained from his body, ran to his brother, embracing him tightly. Their grandmother dropped to her knees and held both of them, sobbing openly. Jihoon, however, wore an expression devoid of any emotion. His mind was blank. He couldn’t process this. Everything he knew about himself, his life, his hopes and dreams and emotions and relationships, was going to die in this home. He was going to take on an entirely new life with an entirely new path.

Jihoon would find, soon, that the answer to his question was they just do it. He and his brother both took the time to prepare—particularly mentally, with many late night conversations between the two, one bringing Jihoon to tears. His grandmother, who confessed to being a close friend of the royal family, disclosed everything she felt confident telling them. When he attempted to say his goodbyes to his friends, Seokmin and Seungkwan vehemently refused.

“Jihoon, what are we gonna do without you?” Seokmin insisted, close to tears.

“Yeah!” Seungkwan was already crying, face wet with tears, though the angry tone of his voice seemed to point to otherwise. “We’re the three musketeers. We can’t be separated. We do _everything_ together.”

“I can’t do anything about it,” Jihoon said, shoulders slumped. “I have to go. There’s no other way.”

“I can’t accept this,” Seungkwan said, wiping the snot that began to trail out of his nose. “I’m not letting us be separated.”

“Yeah,” Seokmin agreed. “Me neither.”

So they came up with the next best idea.

“Can my friends come with me?” Jihoon asked the man once he returned, on his word, two weeks later. The guard blinked at him.

“And what will your friends do with us?”

“I don’t know. Can’t you find something for them to do?"

The guard gave it some thought. “I will bring up your suggestion to your parents. If all goes well, we will come back for them as well.”

“What about my friends?” Kihyun interjected, voice laced with anxiety and hope.

“Of course, young prince, it applies to you as well. Whatever will help you adjust.”

And so, a few weeks later they were joined by Seokmin and Seungkwan, as well as two of Kihyun’s close friends, named Minhyuk and Jooheon. The four were to train and find sufficient positions in the royal council for themselves in exchange for joining their friend.

Kihyun seemed to adjust to the life of royalty relatively quickly. He had no problem being in the spotlight, being given special attention. Jihoon marveled at it, because he was the complete opposite. He had trouble making himself approachable. He didn’t know how to deal with having someone at his beck and call. He felt uncomfortable among all the regal and lofty decor and architecture. It was as if he didn’t belong.

Even now, having lived all his teenage years as a prince, he still struggled fitting in. But if Jihoon was good at one thing, it was accepting responsibility; so he took every aspect of his new life in stride. He was good at arranging things and meeting behind closed doors, which was most of what he did as a prince. By now, he was used to the limelight, too, though he tried to say as little as possible during public appearances to avoid hurting his already fragile image. But he managed, and he was proud of himself for coming so far.

That’s why he knew something was off when Seungkwan shoved him out of their ship with a nervous goodbye, and when he was escorted into a dining room at the royal palace to wait by himself upon arriving on Venus. He also knew something was off because his instructions for the day were incredibly vague and sudden; he usually knew of trips like this, especially to other planets, days in advance. And even so, when he was going somewhere on his own, he was typically given all the details of the event and how he was to act. He grew more anxious as all the inconsistencies dawned on him, drumming his fingers on the table repeatedly.

Just when he was starting to feel forgotten, he heard the shuffling noises of someone entering the room. He looked up and locked eyes with the last person he wanted to see in such an unfamiliar setting. He cursed Seungkwan for his intuition.

Kwon Soonyoung, prince of Mars.

Soounyoung’s eyes instantly glassed over like ice, all emotion draining from his face. “Jihoon,” he said, voice cold.

“Soonyoung,” Jihoon said back, trying his hardest not to spit out his name.

They exchanged no other words as Soonyoung picked a seat at the table, a reasonable distance from Jihoon. Jihoon watched him like a hawk before diverting his attention to a chipped piece of wood on the table, much more interesting than the sad excuse of a man who just joined him. They sat in a tense silence for what felt like eons.

“So, Mister Pauper,” Soonyoung began. “Any idea who else is showing up today?”

Jihoon gritted his teeth. He hated the nickname. “I thought I told you not to call me that.”

“Well, maybe if you asked nicely,” Soonyoung retorted.

“If I have to ask you one more time, you’ll see just how nice I was in comparison.”

“Oh, I’m _so_ scared, Jihoon.”

“Maybe you should be. You don’t know what I’m capable of.”

“I think I do. And it’s not much.”

“Just because the people from your planet specialize in combat doesn’t make you better. Don’t underestimate me.”

“Actually, I think it brings me pretty close. You shouldn’t underestimate me either.”

“Ahem!” a new voice echoed through the room. Both boys, who were now face to face across from each other at the table due of their argument, turned to the front of the room, eyes wide.

“Junhui!” They both cried in shock. Jihoon, for one, was not expecting to meet with the prince of Venus upon his arrival; he figured he was there for political affairs, but seeing the prince before any other members of his council was a shock.

“Ah,” Soonyoung began, “I mean, Prince Jun!” He kneeled down on one knee and bowed his head towards Junhui. Jihoon followed after snapping out of his trance.

“Oh, you two, cut it out,” Junhui said. He was wearing his permanent gentle smile. “No need for formalities if you can’t even be formal with each other, eh?”

Jihoon and Soonyoung glanced at each other before turning away in a huff. Junhui’s eyes narrowed in understanding, though he maintained his polite smile. _How does he even manage that?_ Jihoon wondered, rising from the floor.

“I’m sure you’re both wondering what you’re here for today,” Junhui continued.

“I am, actually,” Jihoon said.

“You’ll find out very soon,” Junhui assured. He gestured towards the hallway. “Please follow me.”

The three boys walked in silence down the corridors of the palace, their footsteps echoing off the wide halls. Every turn they took made the uneasiness rise higher in Jihoon’s chest. He glanced at Soonyoung occasionally, wondering if he was feeling similar tension, but he was walking too far ahead of him to really tell. Eventually, though, he spoke up.

“Hey, Junhui,” Soonyoung began. “Can’t you at least, you know...give us an idea of where we’re going? What the hell we’re doing here? Nobody told me anything, and it’s starting to freak me out.”

Junhui cleared his throat, refusing to look back. “I was given clear instructions to not disclose any information before we arrive at our destination. I apologize." 

“Uh,” Soonyoung continued. “No way. I don’t like the sound of that.”

“Unfortunately, I’d have to agree,” Jihoon said. “Aren’t we here on business? And if it’s so important, why is it being kept from us?”

“You’ll understand in due time, I promise,” Junhui said with finality, leading them to a clearing after a long tunnel. He gestured towards his left. “This way, please.”

They walked down a long hallway and abruptly stopped when they neared the end. Junhui gestured towards a door. “After you,” he said.

Giving a hesitant glance towards each other, Soonyoung and Jihoon entered the room. Jihoon was shocked to find himself in what appeared to be a classroom, with long desks and chairs laid out. Looking back at Junhui, he gestured they move forward, to the front of the classroom. They began to make their way to the front when the door near the front opened and in walked a woman whose face they recognized immediately. They gasped in unison and bowed deeply.

“Commander Jiyoung,” Junhui said from somewhere behind them. It sounded like he was bowing as well. “Thank you so much for your presence.”

“Oh, it is my pleasure,” she said. She then banged her fist on the desk beside her, causing Soonyoung to release a small yelp. “Stand up straight, boys!”

“Yes, ma’am!” Soonyoung shouted, straightening himself out. Jihoon gave a small nod while doing the same.

“Respectful as ever, Soonyoung,” Jiyoung said. She offered Jihoon a friendly smile. “Pleased to meet you, Prince Jihoon.”

“It’s an honor, commander,” Jihoon said. “I have heard much about what you have done for the solar system.”

“Why, thank you,” she said. She leaned against the desk. “But this isn’t about me. We’re here for you right now." 

“Us?” Soonyoung said, gesturing towards himself and the other boys in the room.

“Oh, not Junhui, he was just kind enough to lend us his home.” She cocked her eyebrows knowingly. “This is about you two.”

Jihoon blinked. Aside from his confusion, being clumped together with Soonyoung in any circumstance was not something he wanted. What was going on?  
  
“Take a seat,” she offered. “I have a lot to explain to you.”

* * *

Jihoon tried his hardest to focus on the meal in front of him. He barely acknowledged the server that offered to refill his wine, which, understandably, seemed to be the only thing he could bother to consume right now. Despite his hunger, his mind was whirring with too many thoughts to the point that he felt nauseous. His mind continuously replayed his meeting with the commander.

“Do you know where you are?” Jiyoung had asked them. They both responded with silence. She sighed. “Of course you don’t. This is a specialized training grounds for members of the government on Venus. It is open to other residents of the solar system, as well, particularly those who wish to lend their talents to their planets. Many come here to refine their skills, whether in combat, intergalactic affairs, or simply historical, cultural, or scientific knowledge.” She smiled then, but somehow, it scared Jihoon. “Knowing that, do you know why you’re here?”

Both of the boys were silent again.

“Obviously not,” Soonyoung piped in.

Jiyoung’s smile faltered as she gritted her teeth. “Of course you don’t.” She took in a breath, closing her eyes, and steadied her facial expression again. “Well, let me be the first to tell you. For an indefinite amount of time, these training grounds will be your home.”

Jihoon and Soonyoung froze for a few moments. Soonyoung’s body began lurching forward in shock, as though he didn’t quite catch what the commander had said.

“Excuse me?” Jihoon said, finally speaking up. He felt like his bones were filled with cement.

“You heard me correctly,” she said. “You’re here to train, to refine your skills as the next heads of your planets. Because frankly, as it stands, you are both embarrassments to the royal families!” She raised her voice at the last few words, startling them both.

“I don’t understand,” Soonyoung said, voice shaky. “Do our families know about this?”

“Oh yes, they reached out to me and helped me plan it themselves,” Jiyoung said. “They sent you encouraging messages that you can watch on your communication devices later. Which, if you haven’t noticed already, we confiscated upon your arrival here and will be replaced with new ones for the duration of your time here. They will have restricted access, so you don’t try anything funny or get distracted.”

Upon hearing that, Jihoon instinctually brought his hand to his left jacket pocket, where he usually kept it. His device was, in fact, missing. Soonyoung was also searching for his communication device, smacking his hands all over his body in a frenzy.

“You said we are here for an indefinite amount of time,” Jihoon began. His shoulders were stiff with anxiety. “What does that mean? How do we know when we get to leave?”

“You leave once I have decided that you are ready to graduate from my self-produced program. And if you don’t meet the standards by then, you will join the standardized training regimen when it is open to the public.”

“When will that be?” Soonyoung asked.

“Three months,” Jiyoung replied.

“Three months!?” Soonyoung shouted.

“Is that a deadline?” Jihoon asked.

“If you would like to interpret it that way. But that is not an empty threat. If you don’t take this seriously, you will have to join.”

“This is bullshit,” Soonyoung mumbled to himself, head in his hands.

Jihoon took in a deep breath. “What are the conditions of our graduation? What is expected of us?”

Jiyoung went on to explain all the courses they would be taking, and the resources that were available to them to supplement them. She explained how she would evaluate and track their progress. All of the areas that they were expected to improve upon were outlined to them. Jihoon listened intently, taking in everything he’d need to improve upon. Until she got to the last one.

“Perhaps most importantly,” Jiyoung started, “is that you two will have to learn to cooperate and work together. You will need to cast aside your differences and learn to trust each other, if only for the sake of diplomacy.”

This was when Jihoon snapped. The composure that he had barely been holding together crumbled as a look of horror spread across his face. “What!?” he said, raising his voice.

Soonyoung seemed to have some life sparked into him again, cackling loudly at the commander’s words. Jihoon shot him a glare.

“I’m sorry,” Jihoon continued, “but there is _no_ way you can expect me to ever get along with him. That’s just not happening.”

“And why not?” Jiyoung asked. “You two are part of some of the most powerful families in the solar system. Your influence is deep. The whole galaxy is watching you. And yet, you can’t even hold a conversation without going for each other’s throats!” She snapped forward. “There is no reason for the hostility between you two. Your planets have always had good relations. If this trend continues, it will eventually seep into planetary affairs, and weaken our already vulnerable solar system. Do you understand the weight of your actions?” She slammed a hand on each of the tables that Jihoon and Soonyoung were occupying. “Do you!?”

They both fell silent, unable to respond. They eventually glanced at each other, causing Soonyoung to grimace deeply and Jihoon to turn away, arms crossed. Jiyoung sighed.

“Well,” she said, “I have told you all you need to know for now. Tomorrow you will be able to explore the training grounds before your official training regimen begins the day after. You will be escorted to your personal rooms later, where you will find your uniforms and temporary communication devices. You’re dismissed for the day.”

“And now, we get to eat!” Junhui said from the back of the room, clapping his hands together. Jihoon jumped a bit at the sound of his voice, forgetting he was there entirely. He was ashamed that he had to be witness to such a spectacle. “I’ve prepared dinner for you boys. I’m sure you want to eat your feelings after such a stressful discussion. Consider this my treat to you.”

And that was how Jihoon found himself sitting at a table, awkwardly distant from both Soonyoung and Junhui, the only other occupants of the table. Soonyoung was fiddling with his fork, pushing the food on his plate around listlessly. Whenever his wine was refilled he gulped it down instantly and slammed the wine glass down on the table with such force Jihoon was surprised it hadn’t shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces yet. Junhui merely sat at the head of the table, taking turns between eating and watching them both, with that smile that was starting to unnerve Jihoon plastered on his face.

“I’m not your parents, so I can’t make you stay here until you finish your meal,” Junhui began, “but I do think you will find yourselves hungry later. And I did have my best chefs put together this meal. Just a thought.”

“This fuckin’ blows!” Soonyoung yelled, dropping his fork. “I didn’t agree to this! I don’t want this! I have better shit to do! Why did everyone around me decide this was what I needed? How am I gonna learn anything if I’m not even at home, where it matters most!?” He gestured towards Jihoon, making him freeze on the spot. “And to make matters worse, I have to put up with this asshole the whole time!”

“Wow, thanks, Soonyoung,” Jihoon said, tone flat. “If it makes you feel better, I would prefer if you weren’t here either.”

“Great! Glad the feeling’s mutual,” he snapped.

“No fighting at the table, please,” Junhui said, forcing a smile. “I like the both of you, so I take offense to you guys being hurtful towards each other.”

Soonyoung scoffed and picked up his fork again, stabbing it through a piece of meat and forcing it down. Jihoon took another sip of his wine before speaking up.

“Why did you offer to hold this here, Junhui?” he asked.

Junhui shrugged. “Venus is already known as a neutral, peaceful place, and the royal training grounds happened to be an ideal location for what your parents were looking for. Commander Jiyoung has spent some time here, as well, so she was leaning strongly towards the space here.”

“Even knowing...uh…” Jihoon waved his hand awkwardly between him and Soonyoung. “It would end up like this?”

“Like I said, I like you both,” Junhui insisted. “So I’d like to see you get along. Not only as my comrades, but as my friends.”

Jihoon frowned. It was perhaps the first time he felt bad about hating Soonyoung’s guts so bad for the sake of another person. He eyed his food, taking Junhui’s advice and eating only to save himself the hunger later.

When they were finished they were escorted to the area that seemed to be for dormitories, which housed all the other current residents of the training grounds. Much to their dismay, Jihoon and Soonyoung’s rooms were right next to each other. Soonyoung slammed his door closed as soon as the guard walked away, leaving Jihoon standing in the hallway by himself. He eyed his door, not wanting to enter and accept the reality of his current situation. But he was tired, so he turned the knob and entered.

The room was spacious, with a bed against the back wall and plenty of shelving around it. He noted the closet to his right, which probably held the uniforms the commander told them about. There was a desk against the left wall, and on it was what appeared to be the communication device they were promised. He noticed it blinking, probably with the message from his family. With a sigh, he sat on the desk, pressing the button to play the video. The projection burst into life, showing the image of his mother and father sitting peacefully. Within a few moments, however, his brother’s face took up the entire projection.

“Jihoon!” came Kihyun’s shout. “Just know we didn’t want to do this. I, for one, was completely against it. I knew you would hate every second of it.”

Jihoon huffed out a laugh. “No kidding,” he said to himself.

“But I think there could be some benefits, you know? Going somewhere else can change your view of the world. We both know that. Remember when we first got to the palace? It’s like that. Don’t be afraid to learn what this place has to offer to you.”

Jihoon smiled bitterly at his brother’s words. Even over this bad recording, he knew how to comfort him.

“Ah!” Kihyun said suddenly. “Here, your friends have something to say, too.” He attempted to adjust the camera angle, and it eventually focused on Seungkwan and Seokmin. Seokmin was wearing a conniving smile, and Seungkwan looked like he was trembling, face contorted in worry. Jihoon’s jaw tightened at the memory of a tense Seungkwan earlier in the day. Of course, he didn’t have to attribute Seungkwan knowing of Soonyoung’s presence to his intuition. He had actually known this whole time.

“Jihoon! My most valiant prince to whom I have sworn my life and loyalty to!” Seungkwan clasped his hands together, bowing his head. “Please forgive me! I’m sorry for conspiring in this, I just care about your well being and your growth! Please, please, please find forgiveness in your heart! I love you!”

“Hey,” Seokmin said. “Just make sure you and Soonyoung don’t kill each other, okay?”

“If I may,” Jihoon heard his father say off-screen, and noises of Kihyun fumbling with the camera followed until it focused back on his parents, like the way the video began.

“Son,” his father began. “Just know this is not a punishment. I believe you have it in you to grow tremendously with this opportunity. As your brother said, do not reject the opportunities in front of you. I believe in you.”

“We believe in you, Jihoon!” his brother cried before the video cut off.

Jihoon rubbed his temples. The knowledge of his friends and brother also being in on the plan to trap him here made him deflate. Just how many people approved of this and played along?

Mindlessly, he navigated his new communications device. He noticed a great deal of his contacts from his own device had been transferred over. When he arrived at Jeonghan’s number, his finger hovered over the dial button reluctantly. Jeonghan, the prince of Earth, had been one of the closest friends he made since starting his new life as a prince. He needed to talk to someone, but he was feeling betrayed by his family right now and he sure wasn’t going next door to seek solace. He hesitated before the image of a seemingly clueless Seungkwan popped into his head. He pressed the button, determined.

The device stalled for a moment before Jeonghan picked up, image of him projecting into the air similar to the video from earlier.

“Jihoon! You’re alive!”

“Is Seungkwan still there?” he asked.

“Well, hello to you too,” Jeonghan answered, head leaning against his balled fist. “To my knowledge, he is. Would you like to speak with him?”

“Please,” Jihoon said, desperation laced in his tone.

“Seungcheol, dear,” Jeonghan said, placing a hand tenderly on Seungcheol’s arm. Jihoon winced. Did they always have to be so affectionate? “Could you fetch Seungkwan for me? If he isn’t...occupied with Vernon, that is.”

Seungcheol, Jeonghan’s personal guard, scoffed out a laugh. “Yeah, I’ll check on them.”

“Thank you, love. Maybe you should warn Seungkwan about his imminent danger. Or not, if you want to give him a little surprise.” Jeonghan winked and Jihoon heard Seungcheol’s cry of “You devil!” before he left the room.

“So,” Jeonghan began, turning his attention to Jihoon again. “Loving the new place yet? Having a good time with your training buddy?”

“Holy shit, you knew too!?” Jihoon cried. He groaned into his hands. “Jeez, you all really thought I wouldn’t ever agree to this on my own, huh?”

“Duh,” Jeonghan responded. “You’d never willingly go anywhere where Soonyoung is, even if it was for five seconds. You really expect me to believe you’d be fine with being near him for months?”

“Well—” Jihoon began. He really couldn’t argue with that. “But I wouldn’t disagree to this kind of training. It’s not like I’m not aware that I’m lacking. Just—” he clicked his tongue. “Why does it have to be with him?”

“You see, Jihoon, that’s your biggest obstacle. You don’t see your relationship with Soonyoung as a problem, but it is. It’s holding you back.”

“Jeonghan,” Jihoon said firmly. “You know why I can’t stand him.”

It was true. Jeonghan had been witness to their first meeting. It wasn’t long after Jihoon had met Jeonghan, so he had high hopes for meeting another prince in such close proximity to him, especially one his age. They were standing next to each other at a formal meeting, Jeonghan only a few feet in front of them, and Soonyoung kept eyeing Jihoon, making him incredibly nervous. They eventually made eye contact, and before Jihoon could look away nervously, Soonyoung smiled at him warmly, giggling a bit.

“What is it?” Jihoon asked, concerned.

“Oh, nothing,” Soonyoung responded. “It’s just that your ass looks great in those pants.” He shot a wink at Jihoon. Soonyoung’s words prompted Jeonghan to whip his head around, hand barely covering his mouth in a facetious expression of shock.

Jihoon parted his lips to speak, but words failed him. Instead, his face fell and he turned away, contempt washing over him. He could see Soonyoung still smiling at him out of the corner of his eye. He really wished he would stop.

It was from that moment on that Jihoon decided he didn’t like Soonyoung.

Soonyoung, however, was none the wiser. For the next few times that they met, Soonyoung tried his very best to talk to Jihoon openly, and on friendly terms. But everything Soonyoung said just made Jihoon dislike him more. The only comments that came out of his mouth seemed to be about how amazingly small and cute he was, or how weird all of Jihoon’s habits were, or how funny it was that Jihoon knew so little about being a prince. Every comment chipped away at Jihoon’s patience, until the moment when he finally snapped.

“Can you please leave me alone?” Jihoon barked, turning sharply on his heel to face Soonyoung, who was trailing behind him.

Soonyoung flinched, expression painted with shock and hurt. “I’m sorry? What did I do?”

“I’m not interested in your advances, Soonyoung.”

Soonyoung was dumbfounded for a few moments before he scoffed. “My advances? You mean, in trying to be your friend?”

“Oh please. If you’re not trying to flirt with me, all you do is patronize me. You laugh at all my mistakes and try to teach me things I already know. How can you call that friendship?”

Soonyoung shifted his weight to one foot, breathing out a frustrated laugh. “I see. So this is why you have been such a jerk when I’ve been trying to help you, huh?” He clenched his jaw. “Fine. I’ll leave you alone. If you’re gonna be such an ass when I offer you help, I don’t want to keep trying, anyway.”

“Good, I don’t want your help,” Jihoon answered, turning to walk away.

“Fine! Great! Works for me!” Soonyoung shouted back after him.

And they had been the same since then.

“Jihoon,” Jeonghan said, bringing him back to their conversation. “Do you know how long ago that was? He’s probably changed by now. I’m sure if you tried, you could let it go. And so could he.”

“Well, he’s still a class A jackass towards me. And it’s for no good reason.”

“Oh, there’s a reason,” Jeonghan stated. “If he’s class A, you’re the teacher.”

Jihoon shot him an unamused look. “Good one,” he said.

At that moment, Jihoon could hear whining coming from off screen on Jeonghan’s end. He soon recognized it as Seungkwan, who was dragged into the frame by Seungcheol.

“No! Please! He’s gonna kill me!” Seungkwan looked over at the screen and yelped when he saw Jihoon’s face. “Oh! Jihoon! Your highness, your princeliness, your noble graceliness!”

“You sound just like the video message,” Jihoon pointed out.

Seungkwan clapped his hands together in front of his face and bowed his head, in an amazingly identical fashion to the video. “I’m so sorry, Jihoon. They told me not to say anything or give anything away or I would get in lots of trouble. I was only doing my job! And...I want what’s best for you…” He bowed deeper. “Please forgive me!”

“You just better be lucky that you’re not here right now, or I would have kicked your ass to Pluto.”

* * *

Jihoon woke up the next day wondering if he’d had some bizarre nightmare, but found himself in the exact same room from the night before, much to his dismay. Upon looking at the time he also realized he had slept through the entire morning and was nearing the afternoon. He frowned, rubbing his eyes and flopping out of the bed. He trudged towards the closet, where he analyzed the clothing that was provided for him; several sets of two outfits were hung neatly, one clearly more suited for training and the other more reminiscent of an academy uniform. He noticed both were in the color of an outfit he frequently wore for public appearances: red. He groaned at the gaudiness of it all, ripping a set of the uniform from its hanger. Once it was on, his body lead him to the dining hall, which he remembered Junhui pointing out on the way to their rooms the night before. He all but inhaled the food after sheepishly asking for coffee and having the sweet looking server by the name of Sungyeon prepare a fresh cup just for him.

Once he escaped from his embarrassment, he took the time to do what his schedule intended: explore. He took note of the hallway with what looked like classrooms, where he had met with the commander the day before. He peeked through a door that led into what seemed like a dojo, with only mats laying on the floor and on some parts of the walls. He noticed inside was a man he did not recognize and Soonyoung, wearing the same exact training outfit as the one in Jihoon’s closet, but in a shade of violet. He grumbled.

 _I wonder if these outfits are Junhui’s doing,_ he thought. _It seems like the kind of twisted thing that would cause him immense satisfaction._

He walked away before they noticed him, wanting nothing less than Soonyoung catching him watching in secret. He reached an ornate spiral staircase that he followed up to the library. He was shocked when he entered, in awe at the high ceilings and large windows, as well as its multiple levels and endless bookshelves.

“Welcome,” came a voice from behind him, and he jumped. He turned to face the voice, which belonged to a tall man wearing round glasses and a half-hearted smile.

“Hi,” Jihoon managed.

“You must be Prince Jihoon,” the man said. “I can tell by your…” he eyed him up and down. “stature.”

“Thanks,” Jihoon said flatly. “That would be me.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend,” the man said. He gave a brief bow. “I’m Wonwoo, and I am responsible for watching the library. It’s nice to meet you.”

Jihoon blinked. “Doesn’t that just make you a librarian?”

Wonwoo rubbed his arm shyly. “I’m not quite there yet. That is why I’m here, though, and I’ll hopefully be done with my training soon.”

“You’d already be there if you stopped slacking off and played less games on our computers!” shouted someone from next to them. Wonwoo’s head snapped to his right, and Jihoon followed. A young woman was sitting at the reception desk, arms crossed.

“That,” Wonwoo began, “would be Kyungwon. She is just like me, training to become a librarian, as well as data and records specialist for the royal family.”

“I’m nothing like you,” she said. “I actually want to move forward instead of just looking to hang around close to the prince.” Wonwoo gasped a bit at her accusation, causing her to grin slyly. She turned her attention to Jihoon and smiled brightly. “Nice you meet you, prince! Gosh, you’re so much shorter than I imagined from pictures.”

Jihoon’s lips tightened into a line.

“Ah, Kyungwon, I don’t think Jihoon appreciates comments about his height,” Wonwoo stated.

“Oh! My bad. It’s just kinda cute, you know? Oh, you probably don’t like that either, I’m sorry…”

“It’s alright,” Jihoon said, trying to hide his distaste.

“Well, Jihoon,” Wonwoo began, “the benefit of being here for a long time is that I am very familiar with the library. Would you like me to show you around?”

Wonwoo gave him a tour of the library, from its different sections to all the various tools that were available to find resources and new information. He listened attentively, suspecting he would spend most of his time here. His home planet of Mercury was focused on the pursuit of culture and knowledge; he felt right at home in a place with such a vast amount of untapped information.

“Here are most of our books filled with sheet music. We have far too many to keep them in the music room, so a few of the more popular ones are there, and we keep the rest here. You’re welcome to take them to the room any time, though.”

Jihoon’s eyes widened. “The music room?”

“Yes, it’s just down the hall from the exit of the library,” Wonwoo said. “Why? Are you a musician?”

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say that,” Jihoon said, eyes downcast shyly. “There are...a few instruments I do like to play, though.”

“Well, as a member of this academy you are welcome to enter and use it at any time,” Wonwoo informed him.

“I think I will,” Jihoon said.

Wonwoo showed Jihoon a few more minor details before seeing him out, leading him towards the music room. Jihoon tried his best to calmly make his way there, but he caught himself pacing. Once he was certain he reached the right room, he slowly turned the knob and entered. The room was not uncomfortably large, with a few smaller instruments lining the walls as well as some doors that appeared to lead to storage closets and private rooms. What caught Jihoon’s attention, though, was the grand piano in the center of the room, with the afternoon sun making its polished surface shine. He approached it, briefly eyeing the tiny bookshelf with books of sheet music by its bench, before sitting down and gliding his fingers over the smooth keys.

He smiled to himself, feeling at peace. Music was the one thing his grandmother had insisted Jihoon and Kihyun keep up with since their youth. They were still able to practice at the palace, particularly with the ornate piano in the center of the palace’s main hall, and it was something they often did together or separately to destress and feel nostalgic. He could forget about the world outside of the bubble of him and the piano, if just for a few moments.

He began to play a song that came easily to him, one of the first he learned and played many times. His eyes were trained on the keys despite his fingers moving with ease. The smile never left his lips, aside from a few particularly difficult parts where his tongue poked out from between his lips in concentration. It had been awhile since he played, even back home, but it felt good. His hands slid off the keys when he was done, satisfied.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw movement by the doorframe and jerked his head up. There was Soonyoung, standing, with the door open, watching him. He jumped and let out a small cry of shock, turning his head away in a way that seemed...bashful?

Jihoon’s eyes narrowed. “What are you doing here?”

“I…” Soonyoung trailed off. “I heard music from down the hall, so I came to find where it was coming from, and when I saw the door was open and saw you in here, I just...wanted to keep listening…”

Jihoon’s eyebrow cocked upwards in confusion. He was hesitant to speak in case Soonyoung was trying to mess with him, so he just maintained a taut glare.

“I mean it!” Soonyoung said. “The way you play is nice, okay? I really enjoyed it.”

“Oh.” Jihoon said. “Okay.”

Neither of them moved for a few moments, Soonyoung refusing to make eye contact with Jihoon, and Jihoon waiting for him to leave. He eventually moved to leave the room himself, walking straight past Soonyoung without saying a word.

Jihoon thought about the soft gaze he caught on Soonyoung’s face as he watched him play and grimaced. He was unsettled by Soonyoung’s lack of hostility, wondering what brought on the momentary break in his tight defenses.

Whatever it was, Jihoon pushed it to the back of his mind.

* * *

Jihoon drummed his fingers against the desk he sat at, already uncomfortable with his entire situation. He was uncomfortable with the silence that hung in the space between he and Soonyoung, sitting as far away from each other as possible. He was also uncomfortable with the fact that he was sitting in a classroom clearly meant for more than two people, but he was all by himself in said classroom with only one other person. Most importantly, though, he was uncomfortable with the fact that their teacher for their very first lesson of this horrible training camp that was thrust upon them was late.

“You know,” Soonyoung began, from somewhere far behind him. “There is an old Earth story that is really similar to this. About a girl who found out she was a princess and had to learn all this stuff and take classes and go through a total transformation. It was also a romance. Oh, I guess that’s more like you than me, huh? Minus the romance. I think it’s called the Diary of a Princess, or something like that.”

Jihoon sighed deeply. “It’s Princess Diaries. And it was almost nothing like this, actually. It was also an ancient Earth film for young women. So I don’t think it had much to do with the realities of being young royalty.”

“Oh.” Soonyoung snickered. “Wow, you sure seem to know a lot about it for some silly teenage romance tale. Is that what you’re into, Pauper?”

Jihoon breathed in sharply, trying not to lose his patience. “I have done a lot of studying on Earth’s ancient films. What of it? It was loved and respected as a classic in its time. You knew about it, too.”

They both fell silent again, waiting for someone to enter the room, for someone to occupy their attention besides each other.

“What do we do if they never show up?” Soonyoung asked.

“How am I supposed to know? I have all the information you have.”

“Hey! I was just asking a question, alright? Tone it down.”

At that moment, the door opened, and in walked a thin man with alarmingly good posture. Jihoon noted that the smile on his face was similar to Junhui’s ever-present smile, but something about this man’s was more practiced.

“Hello,” the man said. His voice was smooth and sweet. “I apologize for being late, I was discussing some important matters with Commander Jiyoung. I’m Joshua, and I will be your instructor for your lessons on diplomacy and etiquette. It’s nice to formally meet you two.”

Soonyoung sputtered out a laugh. “Etiquette? Really? Are we going to a tea party?”

“Perhaps it is that line of thinking that makes it evident just how badly you need this lesson,” Joshua said, maintaining his gentle voice and kind smile. Soonyoung slouched back in his seat.

“Anyway,” Joshua continued, “due to the nature of this type of class, you will be expected to learn a little history, as well. It might seem like a lot to handle, but as long as you are dedicated to your improvement, it should come naturally.”

“Oh, great,” Soonyoung spoke up once again. “Going back to school forcibly. Just what I wanted.”

“Soonyoung...” Jihoon hissed under his breath.

“Is there a problem?” Joshua asked, tilting his head. “Or do you lack in education what you lack in tact and self-control as well?”

Jihoon watched as Soonyoung’s eyes widened and he ducked his head in shame. He shuddered at the calm in Joshua’s voice with such cutting words. Is this what he should expect every lesson?

“Well, if you’re ready to begin, why don’t we start with introductions?” He gestured towards Jihoon. “You can go first.”

Jihoon froze, nervously pointing at himself. Joshua nodded, but Jihoon stared blankly at him, too nervous to say something wrong and be mercilessly torn to shreds by his new instructor.

Joshua sensed his hesitation and let out a bright laugh. “Don’t worry. Just introduce yourself as you normally would in any formal setting.”

“Okay.” Jihoon cleared his throat. “I’m Lee Jihoon, youngest prince of the planet Mercury. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I look forward to our lessons together.”

Joshua nodded in approval. “Good.” He turned to Soonyoung. “Now your turn.”

“Ah!” Soonyoung jumped. “I’m the prince of Mars, Kwon Soonyoung! It’s an honor! Please teach us everything you know!”

Joshua grinned. “Well, your enthusiasm is certainly appreciated. Thank you.”

Joshua went on to explain some of the main points and goals of their lessons, as well as doing various reviews and exercises to gauge how much they knew. After enough time to make Jihoon’s brain feel like he was buzzing, they were dismissed.

After a short break, they headed to their next lesson, which was for physical training. Their instructor was an upbeat girl by the name of Yebin, shocking Jihoon mildly when they walked in with her petite frame. However, once they started their training (and especially after Soonyoung made a comment questioning her strength), her intensity and power began to show itself. It was apparent that this was an area where Jihoon needed a decent amount of practice, and he was thankful that their instructor for this training at least was not as frightening as Joshua.

After their second lesson, the day was free; but Jihoon found this to be more of a curse than a blessing. It seemed that every waking moment he was not in a lesson, he was destined to have an awkward encounter with Soonyoung. Since they were the only two with a fixed schedule, it made sense that they would cross paths often, but he still hated it. At the dining hall, in the hallways near the dorms and the recreational areas, and worst of all, the showers in the locker rooms after their physical training. He was becoming increasingly frustrated with how often he was forced to acknowledge his presence and tried his best to ignore him. It was getting hard, though, because he often felt Soonyoung’s eyes on him, glancing quickly when he thought Jihoon wouldn’t notice.

It was particularly obnoxious the following day, when they had just finished their first course in leadership, led by a quiet and stone-faced woman named Nayoung. The course had been quite daunting, focused strongly on their expectations as future leaders of their respective planets. One particular phrase stuck out in Jihoon’s mind.

“There are moments when you will have to put your own feelings aside,” Nayoung told them. “You are living for more than yourself. You hold a responsibility to the people of your planet. If you always bear this in mind, it will help tremendously in your journey to being a great leader.”

At the moment Nayoung said this, Jihoon became acutely aware of Soonyoung’s presence on the opposite side of the room to him. Jeonghan’s words also rung in his ears and guilt started to seep deep into his bones. Was he really holding himself, and potentially his people, back? Would it be easier for everyone if he just tried to talk to Soonyoung? These kinds of questions kept popping into his head as Nayoung continued with her lecture, making it hard for him to focus. He bolted out of the classroom at the first opportunity and headed straight for the dining hall.

So here they were, eating alone at the dining hall during their short break between lessons, Soonyoung stealing glances far too often for Jihoon’s comfort. He didn’t know if he was imagining things, but he felt as though every time he looked over to Soonyoung, he had inched just a tad bit closer to Jihoon. He shot him an inquisitive look, hoping Soonyoung would explain himself, but instead after a few moments he looked up from his pudding to find Soonyoung standing across from him at the table, tray in his hands. They stared at each other for a few seconds, Soonyoung looking nervous and Jihoon looking confused.

“Can I help you?” Jihoon finally asked, eyebrows furrowed.

“Uh…” Soonyoung began. “Actually, yes. Look, can we talk? Like, for real talk? Seriously?”

Jihoon hesitated. “Sure.”

“Just—” Soonyoung set down the tray and seated himself across from Jihoon. “You know, we don’t have to be friends or anything crazy like that, but I think at the very least, we should try to put aside our differences and work together. So we can actually graduate from this weird program. Since we’re not going to manage that any time soon, and we pretty much...only have each other here.”

Jihoon narrowed his eyes. “I don’t know,” he started, “that sounds suspiciously like friends to me.”

“It’s—” Soonyoung sighed. “It’s not. It’s more like....allies? Yeah, allies is good.”

“Hm.” Jihoon chewed his lip. “What’s in it for me?”

“Well, for one, you get out of here faster,” Soonyoung said. “But it should also be good for interplanetary relations! If we keep working together after this, it could lead to so many opportunities for both of our planets. And we make our defenses stronger against outsiders.” Soonyoung nodded to himself triumphantly. He then stuck out his hand in front of Jihoon.

“So, Jihoon? Will you be my ally?” 

Jihoon blinked. He debated if he really wanted this. All things considered, it was probably the best course of action. Everyone around him wanted this for him, including his friends. He wasn’t sure if he could stop himself from making snide comments towards Soonyoung, but Soonyoung himself had already let go and gone out of his way to talk to Jihoon, and the thought of falling behind Soonyoung pissed him off to no end. So he extended his hand back and grabbed Soonyoung’s hand to shake it.

“Okay,” Jihoon answered. “We can be allies.”

A wide smile started to spread across Soonyoung’s face. It was an odd sight, especially directed towards him. He winced.

“We are _just_ allies, though,” Jihoon clarified. “Nothing funny like friendship.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Soonyoung said, waving his free hand. He held onto Jihoon’s hand for an uncomfortable amount of time, still smiling. Jihoon snatched it back and moved to get up from the table, picking up his tray.

“Where are you going?” Soonyoung asked.

“To get ready for our combat training,” Jihoon responded. “It starts in 15 minutes, remember?”

“Oh shit!” Soonyoung shouted, shoveling food into his mouth at an alarming rate.

* * *

Jihoon was shocked at the speed at which Soonyoung caught up to him, barging into the dojo in his training gear only a few minutes after Jihoon himself. He panted as he seated himself on the only other chair in the room, a stool right next to Jihoon.

“Do you have indigestion from inhaling your food like some kind of alien vacuum cleaner?” Jihoon asked.

“Maybe,” Soonyoung said. “But I’ll manage.” He raised an eyebrow at the table in front of them, all kinds of different weapons laid out neatly in a row. “Any idea what this is about?”

“Beats me,” Jihoon said.

“Can we...touch them?” Soonyoung asked, reaching his hand out to grab one off the table.

“Don’t touch those!” came a voice from across the dojo. Running up from the back was a man cradling a few other weapons in his arms like they were his children. Jihoon recognized him as the man who was in the dojo with Soonyoung a few days ago.

“Oh!” Soonyoung said, retracting his hand. “Sorry, Minghao. Nice to see you again.”

The man, who Jihoon now knew as Minghao, clicked his tongue as he shook his head. He looked at Jihoon, offering him a small smile. “Hello, Jihoon. I’m Minghao, I spend most of my time in this dojo or in the mechanics shop right outside from here. Nice to meet you.”

“It’s a pleasure,” Jihoon said. He blinked. “Are you our instructor for our combat training?”

“I am,” he said, laying out the last few weapons and placing his hands on his hips, standing proud before the weapons. “There we go. All nice and pretty.”

“What are these for?” Soonyoung asked.

“Pick a few!” Minghao said excitedly. “Up to four. Whichever you want.”

Jihoon eyed the weapons in front of him carefully. “Why?”

“Just do it,” Minghao said. “Whether it’s because you know how to use it, you want to learn or it just looks nice. Follow your heart. Go with your gut. You have 30 seconds.”

Jihoon took in a sharp breath, overly cautious of the consequences his choices could have. He decided to go with a pocket knife, a small stun gun and a sleek blade, while Soonyoung went with several laser guns and a complicated looking knife. After seeing Soonyoung picked up four weapons, Jihoon snatched a pair of nunchucks off the table at the last moment. 

“Good,” Minghao said. “Any idea what you’re going to be doing with these?”

“Are we going to be focusing on learning to fight with these weapons?” Soonyoung asked.

“Bingo,” Minghao said. “How surprisingly observant of you.”

“Surprisingly!?” Soonyoung cried. Jihoon snickered at his offended pout.

Minghao continued, disregarding Soonyoung’s outburst. “These are the weapons that you will be learning to use to their utmost potential. You will also learn how to defend against each other’s weapons, as well as your own.” A devilish grin spread on his lips. “And the rest of these, as well. These will all be mine.”

Soonyoung let out a choked gasp. Jihoon gulped, wondering how he could fend off a professional wielding some of the lethal looking weapons left on the table.

“Be calm, we’re not trying to get hurt here,” Minghao offered. “Just trying to learn. We’re also going to be learning how to pilot some airships effectively, so it won’t be all danger.”

“Isn’t that worse?” Soonyoung asked.

“You won’t get into an actual airship until you’re good enough at the simulation, so no,” Minghao responded. “This is something both of you—especially you, Soonyoung—will need to be able to do throughout your life. You have to embrace your fears and let it move you forward if you want to succeed. And also not kill each other, despite how badly you probably want to.”

“Oh no, not me and Jihoon!” Soonyoung threw an arm around Jihoon’s shoulder, causing Jihoon to lose his balance. “We wanna work together, right?”

“Right…” Jihoon responded reluctantly.

Jihoon sat through the rest of Minghao’s explanation and demonstrations with absolute concentration. Frankly, being this close to so many weapons alarmed Jihoon. He hadn’t been exposed to many—only a few during some brief training sessions back home—so he didn’t exactly trust himself with them. Soonyoung, however, was leaning back comfortably on the stool, posture relaxed. Jihoon figured it was nothing new to him. He breathed a sigh of relief when they were dismissed. Since there wasn’t much physical exertion that went into their lesson with Minghao, Jihoon simply packed his things and started heading back to his room.

“Jihoon!” Came Soonyoung’s voice from behind him. Jihoon froze, feeling slightly irritated at Soonyoung calling for his attention yet again. He glanced over his shoulder, not wanting to give him too much acknowledgement. Soonyoung stood there with his bag, rubbing his arm.

“What is it?” Jihoon asked.

“Do you want to...walk back together?” Soonyoung said.

Jihoon narrowed his eyes as a response.

“Well, I just figured we’re going in the same direction, anyway,” Soonyoung said. “It would probably be less awkward if we just...walked together.”

Jihoon let out a sigh. “Sure. Let’s walk back together.”

Soonyoung’s face lit up in a smile (Why did he always do that when Jihoon was nice to him?) and did a tiny jog to catch up to Jihoon, who was already walking away.

They walked next to each other in complete silence. Jihoon kept glancing over to Soonyoung, who was looking at his feet with a nervous grin on his face, wondering if he had any ulterior motives. But the only exchange they shared on their walk back was a glance at each other, which caused Soonyoung to let out a shaky giggle.

When Jihoon got to his door, he promptly turned on his heel and stared at Soonyoung sternly, dead in the eyes.

“ _Allies_ ,” Jihoon emphasized. “That’s all we are. Got it?”

Soonyoung blinked for a moment, hand on the knob to his room, before he let out a smug smile.

“Got it,” Soonyoung said. “Juuuuust allies.”

And he closed the door behind him.

Jihoon huffed as he entered his own room. Just who did Soonyoung think he was? Did he really think he could play off being all cool and confident when he had been a nervous mess moments before? What the hell did he want from Jihoon?

He tried to shake the thoughts from his mind, but that night he tossed and turned in bed, trying to decipher the intentions of his so-called ally. 

* * *

The next few days proceeded normally, with their lessons going rather smoothly. Jihoon spent a fair share of his free time at the library or in his room, reading and doing research. He spoke to Wonwoo frequently about the academy and the planet, as well, trying his best to get familiar with his temporary home. He hadn’t returned to the music room, feeling less than inspired, but he often walked past it, glancing longingly at its doors.

His bizarre interactions with Soonyoung persisted, as well, the two of them often walking to places together or eating together at the dining hall. Sometimes Soonyoung would try his best to make small talk and get to know Jihoon better, and other times he would be completely silent. Jihoon was certainly not going to make an effort to start a conversation. His tolerance of Soonyoung was only a survival tactic.

“Is this what allies do?” Jihoon asked as they sat together over lunch one day, Soonyoung jabbering on about something related to the extra training he was getting from Minghao.

Soonyoung froze, fork halfway up to his mouth. He set it down on his tray and thought.

“Maybe?” he finally said. “It can be, but it doesn’t have to be, either.”

“I see.” Jihoon chewed his food thoughtfully.

“Do you want me to stop?” Soonyoung asked.

Jihoon considered the question for a second. “No, it’s not that, it’s just—”

“What, are you _annoyed_ that I’m being nice to you? Is that it? Again? Why are you so fucking weird, Jihoon?”

Jihoon sighed. “Soonyoung—”

“Isn’t it better this way? Does it really make you feel better to just be an asshole all the time?”

“Why are you trying so hard!?” Jihoon almost shouted. Soonyoung stilled at his outburst. He let out a shaky breath. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to raise my voice. I just don’t understand. What do you get out of it?”

Soonyoung laughed. “What do you mean, what do I get out of it? I don’t like having bad blood between me and others. It feels like shit. And you’re the only other person going through exactly what I’m going through. I’d like if we at least got along. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Jihoon ducked his head in frustration. He couldn’t organize his thoughts or keep up with Soonyoung. Was it really that easy for him to just let go of the hostility from the past few years?

“Look,” Soonyoung continued. “If you want me to leave you alone, I will. But to me, being allies doesn’t just mean we agree to not be flaming dicks to each other. I want us to trust each other. To understand each other. You have my back, and I have yours.”

“No, you’re right,” Jihoon finally said. “I think so, too.” He swallowed all of his pride before speaking again. “I’m...sorry. I shouldn’t have acted like that.”

Soonyoung blinked, obviously surprised at Jihoon’s apology. “Oh. Wow. Okay.”

Jihoon’s brow furrowed in embarrassment at his next words, trying his hardest to force them out. “Can we...make a pact? That if we’re going to be allies, we should try our hardest to do that. Trust and understand and look out for each other.” He looked away, focusing on a corner of the dining hall so that he could continue. “I know you’re already doing that, but I want to try my best to do it, too. It sucks to be so be so angry all the time, it’s true. I don’t want to do that anymore.”

Soonyoung’s eyes crinkled in delight. “Of course! Let’s shake on it again?”

“Yeah.” They extended their hands and shook, Jihoon feeling like their decision was renewed. He offered Soonyoung a weak smile, who was still grinning from ear to ear.

“Ah, I want to say something, but I’m not sure if you’d like it…” Soonyoung started.

“What is it?” Jihoon asked.

“Just, when you said all that just now, it was really cute. Like, _really_ cute.”

Jhoon swiftly kicked him in the shin from under the table, causing him to wince in pain.

“Don’t test your luck, Soonyoung.”

* * *

The more time passed, the more Jihoon found that Soonyoung was right. It was much easier to just accept his bizarre acts of kindness than to have his guard up constantly. He also found that it was easy to let him know when he was being a pain in the ass, because Soonyoung took it in stride. Jihoon realized that Soonyoung didn’t expect anything from him, and for that he was thankful.

Soonyoung sure did know how to constantly take Jihoon by surprise, though.

“Boo,” came a quiet voice right in Jihoon’s ear from behind him, making him jump and the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Jihoon pivoted his entire body to the source of the threat only to find Soonyoung grinning comically at him. He heaved a sigh.

“Jesus, Soonyoung,” Jihoon said, leaning against the shelves of the library. “Would it kill you to alert me of your presence normally?”

“No, I just wanted to scare you,” he said, still smiling. He looked around at the high ceilings. “I knew I would find you in here. Damn, this place is actually really nice.”

Jihoon scoffed. “You mean to tell me you haven’t been in here once since we arrived on Venus?”

“Hey! Reading is not my strong suit, okay?” Soonyoung smirked, leaning in closer. “Anyway, that’s not why I came here. I have a proposition for you.”

Jihoon narrowed his eyes. “Okay, let’s hear it.”

He took out a pair of keys from his pocket, dangling them in front of Jihoon’s face. “Wanna go for a ride?”

Jihoon looked scandalized. “Like, leave the premises? No! How did you even get a hold of those keys!?”

“Shh!” Soonyoung lurched his whole body at Jihoon, shushing him with a pointer finger on his lips. He spoke in a hushed tone. “Minghao lent them to me since he saw how well I can pilot his aircraft. There’s a ton of them, and Minghao’s at the palace right now, so if we use it, nobody will notice. We can go exploring. What do you say?”

Jihoon frowned, removing Soonyoung’s finger from his mouth with both hands. “Sounds like a horrible idea to me. What if we get caught? You don’t know what the commander is going to do to us.”

“Well, there’s nothing in the handbook about leaving the training grounds, so I don’t think we’d get in that much trouble. And we can play it off like we didn’t know! Come on, Jihoon, don’t you want to see all the beauty Venus has to offer? This place is known for its incredible landscapes! When will you get a chance to see them up close again?”

“I’m sure you can get away with that,” Jihoon began. “But could you really see me doing the same? I don’t think it’s happening.”

“You’re just not willing to try,” Soonyoung said matter-of-factly. “But it’s fine. You’re not a risk-taker, I get it. You’re just here to do what you’re told like a goody two-shoes. I’m sure you’ve never been in an aircraft like Minghao’s, let alone piloted one…”

Jihoon groaned loudly, squeezing his hands into fists before snatching the keys out of Soonyoung’s hand.

“Just tell me where you want to go,” Jihoon said. “I’ll take us there myself.”

* * *

After sneaking through the dojo to the mechanics shop that housed the aircraft they planned to use, they settled into the two seats and Soonyoung began punching in coordinates. Jihoon turned on the ignition, roaring the machine to life, dozens of lights blinking at him. It was nothing new, though. This was one of the few things Jihoon managed to do at his own home planet’s military academy. Soonyoung shot Jihoon a look of concern.

“Are you sure you can pilot this thing?” he asked.

“Of course I can,” Jihoon said. “Aren’t we supposed to trust each other? I’m trusting you not to get us screwed over by your little excursion, so you can trust me to be a good pilot.”

“Okay, that’s fair,” Soonyoung said. “Now, let’s get her moving, shall we?”

Jihoon led them out of the garage and out of the training camp as Soonyoung fiddled with more controls. Suddenly, music burst forth from the dashboard of the aircraft, Soonyoung laughing in delight.

“Wow, Minghao really knows how to add his own touch to things!” He sat back and started shaking his leg to the beat, occasionally humming along. Jihoon let out a small laugh at Soonyoung’s excitement. 

As they approached their destination, Jihoon noticed the landscape getting more lush. It was difficult not to stare in wonder—Venus’ wildlife was vastly different from that of Mercury that he was used to. Soonyoung was, however, definitely enjoying the view, gasping and _ooh-_ ing at anything that caught his interest.

They landed shortly after, Jihoon doing his best to adjust all the controls properly as Soonyoung jumped out of the aircraft. Suddenly cautious of being in an unknown environment, Jihoon pocketed a short knife he found while rummaging through the ship’s storage before heading out himself.

The moment he stepped outside, the scent of the crisp air overwhelmed him. He breathed it in deeply and closed his eyes, relishing in the freshness. Soonyoung’s shouts startled him out of his haze.

“Jihoon!” he yelled excitedly. “Come here!”

Jihoon followed the sound of his voice and found him standing by a few trees. He urged him to follow him through, and when they passed the clearing, Jihoon gasped.

They stood by a cliff, and thick green trees and mountains rolled on for as long as the eye could see. The sky was clear and the sun was low in the sky, casting a warm glow over the landscape. Jihoon couldn’t hide the smile forming on his lips. He was peaceful.

“Isn’t it beautiful, Jihoon?” Soonyoung asked. When he didn’t answer for awhile, he looked over at him in concern. “Jihoon?”

“It just reminds me of home,” Jihoon said.

“Ah.” Soonyoung nodded in understanding. “It’s only been a week, do you really miss it that much?”  
  
“No, Soonyoung, not just Mercury,” Jihoon began. His smile faltered a bit. “It reminds me of where I grew up. Away from the palace. With my brother and Seokmin and Seungkwan.”

“Oh…” Soonyoung trailed off. “Is it hard?”

“Not anymore,” Jihoon answered. “But I get kind of sad sometimes. I wonder what my life could have been like if I hadn’t been taken away from that tiny house. Who I could have been, what I could have learned about myself.”

They sat after that, enjoying the scenery quietly. It wasn’t like all the other silences between them before. This one was comfortable. Neither of them wanted to talk or expected the other to do so. Jihoon wondered if he could ever get Soonyoung to be like this again, with his typically loud mouth.

As if on cue, Soonyoung spoke up. “Jihoon, do you ever worry you’re not good enough?”

Jihoon considered the question. “No, not really,” he finally answered. “I know I’m not good enough. There’s no way I can be. I wasn’t raised into this life, so there’s a bunch of things I don’t know yet. I just take things as they come and hope I’m improving at a decent rate.”

“I think you’re doing a great job,” Soonyoung said.

Jihoon laughed shyly. “Thanks.” He hesitated. “What about you?”

Soonyoung hugged his knees to his chest. “Always. I’m the only child of my parents, and with how intensely we train people for battle on Mars and tensions between different star systems and galaxies constantly on the rise, I’m always worried about how much I’m growing. I don’t want to let down my parents or my people.”

Jihoon’s face twisted in concern, sadness at Soonyoung’s solemn gaze constricting his chest. “Soonyoung, I—”

Before he could continue, there was a rustling in the trees behind them, quiet but constant. They both turned quickly, eyes sharp and darting around in fear.

“What was that?” Soonyoung asked, frozen in place.

“I don’t know,” Jihoon said back, bracing himself for the worst.

The air stilled for a moment before the rustling grew louder and suddenly he was pushed to the side with a shout of his name, hitting the ground and rolling painfully back. He gathered himself and looked up to see Soonyoung fending off a heavily armored figure, knife in its hands dangerously close to his shoulder.

“Jihoon!” Soonyoung shouted once again. “Run! Go back!”

“No! Are you crazy? I’m not leaving you here by yourself!”

At that moment, the soldier pushed forward a bit, managing to scrape the knife across Soonyoung’s shoulder. Jihoon gasped as he watched the knife sink into his flesh, Soonyoung crying out hoarsely in pain.

“It would be worse if both of us didn’t make it back! Just go!”

“I said no!” Jihoon tried to think quickly, think of ways to get them out of this situation. He went through every possible scenario in his head and every solution only brought on more problems in the case that something else arose. As he sat frozen in panic, another rustling sound came from behind him. His body moved faster than his mind and he spun around, bringing the knife out of his pocket and trying to strike another armored soldier lunging towards him with the blunt side of the blade. To Jihoon’s horror, the arm of the soldier flew off in a flash and Jihoon’s throat tightened in shock. But he noticed sparks flying from its shoulder as it slumped over lifeless moments later, and his eyes lit up in understanding.

“Soonyoung! They’re remote controlled!”

“What!?” Soonyoung shouted.

“They aren’t real people! Don’t hold back!”

“Oh,” Soonyoung said in a surprisingly calm voice. He grabbed the arm of the animated soldier digging the knife into his back and with a shout pushed it off of him and shoved it over the cliff. The rustling noise grew loud again, and Jihoon quickly ran over to Soonyoung, grabbing his wrist and pulling him off the floor to run away.

They ran through the trees, trying their best to stay in the thick of the landscape.

“Do you have any weapons on you?” Jihoon asked, breathless.

“Of course!” Soonyoung answered. “Who do you think I am?”

“An incredibly injured person is who I think you are,” Jihoon responded. “You need to protect yourself. I’ll do my best to protect you, but I don’t know how many there are and I don’t want to leave you defenseless or put us both at risk by focusing on defending you. Can you do that?”

“You can count on me!”

At that moment they reached an opening in the trees and saw a small group of the soldiers approaching them. They stopped dead in their tracks, Soonyoung tossing Jihoon a small laser gun.

“Here, I brought two,” he said, steadying his aim and beginning to shoot. Jihoon stared at it for a moment before doing the same, shoving the knife at them with all his force whenever they got too close. It didn’t take too long for them to take the group down, scraps and piles of metal lying around them. They breathed heavily, Jihoon staring intensely at an emblem on the chest of one of the soldiers. It seemed to have some kind of bird in its center.

“It seems like most of them are divided,” Jihoon said. “We probably only have a short time before another group comes looking for us because of the noise.”

Soonyoung didn’t acknowledge Jihoon, looking around frantically. Jihoon raised an eyebrow at him, but before he could question it Soonyoung grabbed his hand and led him into a cave hidden behind a rock on the side of a small cliff. He shoved Jihoon against the wall and barricaded him between his arms as he hunched over him, head turned towards the entrance of the cave, watching like a hawk.

Jihoon took a moment to process their proximity before he felt his face heat up in embarrassment. He was only inches away from Soonyoung’s chest, heaving up and down with ragged breaths, eyes fierce and protective. Jihoon turned his head away, trying to think about anything besides how harshly he was protecting him.

When the movement outside subsided, Soonyoung’s pose relaxed and he let out a deep sigh of relief. Jihoon cleared his throat, prompting Soonyoung to look down at him, only to jump in shock at how close they were.

“S-sorry,” he said shakily. He then hissed in pain, grabbing his shoulder and slumping over sideways.

Jihoon moved immediately, trying to support him. He pulled the keys from his pocket and turned on the locator for the aircraft. He had no idea how to get back without running the risk of encountering more soldiers. Once he helped Soonyoung sit against the wall of the cave, he crossed his arms sternly.

“You idiot, what were you thinking, putting yourself in danger like that? What if you couldn’t fend them off?”

“I knew I could,” Soonyoung responded. “If I hadn’t done that, you would have been hurt.”

“Well, next time, try not to just save one of us, okay!?”

“There wasn’t enough time for that, Jihoon, I’m sorry,” Soonyoung said. He sounded genuinely apologetic. “If something had happened to you because of my stupid idea, I wouldn’t have been able to forgive myself.”

Jihoon stared at him, eyes filled with anger and concern. He sighed, ready to chastise him, but the locator beeped at him, signifying it found the aircraft. He extended a hand towards Soonyoung.

“Let’s try to make it back to the ship. I’ll clean you up there.”

Once on the aircraft, Jihoon sat Soonyoung on the passenger’s seat as he scavenged for a first aid kit. Once he found it he began to wipe down Soonyoung’s wound. He was thankful that the first aid kit was a highly advanced one, with strong disinfectants and rapid wound regenerators. Soonyoung let out tiny whines of pain every once in awhile as Jihoon cleaned and dressed his wound.

“You know how to clean up injuries really well,” Soonyoung noted. “Why do you know how to do so many useful things?”

“Military academy,” Jihoon responded half-heartedly, concentrating on Soonyoung’s shoulder. “They figured I was going to be a tough case, so they just let me focus on whatever I took interest in. I figured some nursing skills would be helpful, especially with a brickhead like Seokmin going into the royal guard.”

Soonyoung smiled softly. “You seem to think a lot about your friends.”

“Yeah,” Jihoon responded, voice fond. He cleared his throat. “Can you, uh, unbutton your shirt a bit? So I can tie the bandage around your shoulder.”

“Oh, yeah,” Soonyoung said, undoing the first button. Jihoon looked away. He had been way too close to Soonyoung’s chest a few moments ago. He didn’t need clarification on what it looked like bare.

“Lift your arm a bit,” Jihoon said once Soonyoung shrugged the shirt off his shoulders, pushing up lightly on the underside of his arm. It was soft. He didn’t want to think about it.

“Like this?” Soonyoung asked, lifting it so that it was parallel to his shoulders.

“Yeah, thanks,” Jihoon answered. He began to tie the bandage.

“You know, you’re a lot nicer than you let on, Jihoonie,” Soonyoung said.

Jihoon sputtered. “Jihoonie!?” he said, squeezing the bandage between his fists.

Soonyoung cried out in pain. “I-I’m sorry! It just felt right at the moment!” He winced. “Ow, shit, untie the bandage, it’s too tight!”

“Sorry,” Jihoon said, undoing his tie. He huffed out a breath. “Hmph. You take a knife for me once, and you think you can start calling me all these little nicknames.”

“You don’t like it? I think it’s cute. It’s perfect for you.”

“Soonyoung,” Jihoon warned.

“Okay, okay,” Soonyoung said.

“Alright, all done,” Jihoon said, smoothing out his tie. “How does it feel?”

“Hm. Way better, actually,” Soonyoung answered, turning around to face him fully as he moved his shoulder around. “Thank you.”

“No, thank you. For saving me. You really didn’t have to.”

“Hey, we’re allies, right? We have a pact to protect each other. I don’t have plans on breaking it.” He flashed a warm smile. “And you know, we seem to make a pretty good team.” Jihoon did not sense any reluctance or regret in Soonyoung’s words. He felt his chest tighten. That wasn’t a good sign.

“Let’s get us and this ship back to the training grounds safely,” Jihoon said. “I don’t want to go through more hell than we’ve been through today.”


	2. week 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow!! thank you so, so much for all the positive feedback from the first chapter! i really wanted to post this earlier, but i have been INSANELY busy the past few months, between a lot of travel and a lot of work. but don't worry, this fic isn't going anywhere! it is my baby and i want to see it through to the end, even if updates might take awhile. everyone's comments really encouraged me a lot and pushed me to keep working on this chapter, so again, thank you.
> 
> a few things to note: days on venus are ridiculously long, like 150 earth days or something, so that's why there's a few scenes where characters talk about the light and the times of days differently—i still wanted "days" to feel like earth days, so i tried to come up with some logic for that happening on venus. also, the soojung mentioned in this chapter is meant to be babysoul from lovelyz, and he goes unnamed but i imagined the bartender near the end of the chapter as changkyun from monsta x.
> 
> finally, thank you to everyone who helped this chapter move along to completion; especially katherine, who gave me the idea for days on venus, and kaylee, who looked this over and talked it out with me.

The days that passed after Jihoon and Soonyoung’s close encounter were nothing but normal. They went to their lessons and training sessions, used the training grounds’ facilities, met with commander Jiyoung to track their progress. None of their instructors, especially the commander, mentioned anything about sneaking out or getting in trouble, so it seemed like they narrowly avoided punishment. They also spent a great deal of their free time together; not out of familiarity or comfort, but a sense of solidarity. It was always characterized by few words and anxious glances, and absolutely no mention of the incident. It was an unspoken agreement, like it was forbidden.

To make matters worse, Jihoon’s mind was in constant disarray. The concern and curiosity of who these people were, why they targeted Soonyoung and himself, what their goal was wouldn’t leave his head. He felt it most when he was trying to sleep, lying awake in thought. If he did manage to pass out from exhaustion, all he would see were nightmares that had him waking up in a cold sweat.

Frustrated, he headed out of his room one night, straight up a set of stairs to a spot on the roof Wonwoo told him about. When it was dark, it was a great place to look at the stars and clear your mind, according to him. And that was all Jihoon needed right now.

When he opened the door, he was surprised to find another person already on the roof. He immediately recognized Soonyoung, who turned around in panic at the sound of the door opening. His face considerably softened when he saw Jihoon.

“Fancy seeing you here,” Soonyoung said.

“I could say the same,” Jihoon responded. He sat down cross legged next to him. “Did Wonwoo tell you about this place, too?”

“Wonwoo? You mean the guy at the library? No, I actually found this place on my own the first day we got here. I desperately needed a place to breathe.”

“Me too,” Jihoon said, understanding smile on his lips. They looked at each other in silence, afraid of opening the Pandora’s box of discussing the incident.

“How’s your shoulder?” Jihoon asked, skirting around the subject.

“It feels fine,” Soonyoung answered. “Hasn’t hurt much since it got injured, though it does flare up a bit sometimes.”

“The treatments I used were pretty powerful,” Jihoon informed him. “Have you been keeping it bandaged?”

Soonyoung frowned. “Well, I did the first day,” he started. “But then I showered and it came off, and I couldn’t figure out how to get it back on, so…”

Jihoon sighed. “You could always go to the nurse, you know.”

“I did!” Soonyoung said brightly, sitting up. “I told her I had been exerting myself too much so I was feeling really sore, and she gave me some painkillers.”

“That’s good.” They went quiet again for a moment.

“You know,” Jihoon began, reluctant, “I can check your shoulder again if you need me to.”

“If you’d like,” Soonyoung said. “I can barely check what it looks like myself, after all.”

Jihoon grimaced at Soonyoung’s wording—he wouldn’t _like_ to, he was just offering Soonyoung a favor—but decided it was for the best, since he didn’t trust Soonyoung to care for it on his own. He settled himself behind Soonyoung, not sure if he should move to lift up his shirt or wait for Soonyoung to do it himself. But Soonyoung made no motion to take it off either, so he awkwardly coughed to get his attention.

“I can’t see your injury through your shirt, Soonyoung.”

“Oh! Right. Sorry.” Soonyoung lifted the shirt over his head in one swift motion, exposing his bare back to Jihoon. He flinched, the action making him flush a bit. It didn’t help that the light of the stars in the sky and scattered dim lights of the training facility were casting a soft glow on his skin. It felt uncomfortably intimate.

 _Calm down, Jihoon_ , he thought to himself, taking in a deep breath before leaning in closer to look at the healing gash. It looked a bit odd, and Jihoon ran his fingers over it for a moment to make sure it was just scabbing over. It felt off.

“Huh,” Jihoon said.

“What? Oh god, what is it?” Soonyoung asked, concern evident in his tone.

“Nothing, it’s just not healing like I thought would,” Jihoon said, moving away. His hand was on his chin in thought. “It might be because of the regenerating lotion I used on it, I’ve never really observed its effects closely. Just don’t push yourself too much, okay?”

“Okay, doctor!” Soonyoung said, throwing a smile over his shoulder before putting his shirt back on. He laid down on the cool surface of the roof again, hands behind his head. Jihoon resumed his position next to him with his knees pulled up to his chest, drawing a circular pattern on the asphalt, trying way too hard not to stare at Soonyoung’s face as he looked on at the sky in wonder.

“Do you like looking at the stars?” Soonyoung asked.

“I do,” Jihoon said. “Venus is like Mercury, where there are full seasons in darkness, even though the debris that orbits around it makes it seems like there are Earthlike days when the sun is out. I used to spend a lot of time looking at the stars and learning about them during that time when I was younger.”

Soonyoung looked up at Jihoon. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Jihoon answered, looking up. “Now I like looking at them from other planets, too. I never thought I could, never thought about how it would be different. It’s fascinating to me.” He turned to Soonyoung, leaning his head against his bent knees. “What about you? Do you like it?”

“Yeah, I love it,” Soonyoung said, gaze set on Jihoon’s features, smiling softly. It made Jihoon’s heart beat a little faster. He looked away, flustered.

“Can you tell which is your planet from here?” Soonyoung asked, turning back to look at the sky.

Jihoon looked up at the sky at this question, prepared for a challenge.

“That one,” Jihoon answered, pointing at a bright light in the sky. “It’s one of the closer ones, but it doesn’t have the slight blue tint that Earth does.”

“I think you’re right,” Soonyoung said.

“Can you tell which all the others are? Or just Mars?”

“Sometimes I can tell the others. Mars is easy ‘cause it’s just red.”

“Ah.” Jihoon looked around in the black sky before locating a small glowing red light. “There.”

“Yeah, that’s it,” Soonyoung said, laughing brightly. Jihoon looked around at all the other planets and stars, wondering if he could ever be able to identify them all.

“Jihoon,” Soonyoung began once again, tone much more serious than before. It startled Jihoon.

“Yes?”

“We’re both going to get out of here safely. I promise.”

Jihoon let a small smile form on his lips, amused by Soonyoung’s sudden conviction.

“Yeah. I promise too.”

* * *

JIhoon stared at the ceiling as he laid flat on his back in bed, hand itching to grab his communication device and talk to somebody he trusted. His head was swimming with too many thoughts and feelings, and he needed to get them out somehow. They were weighing him down, making him unable to do anything except lay on his bed pathetically. He stared at his device’s spot on the desk. Really, the only person he felt he could open up to right now was Jeonghan, but something told him it might not be a good idea. It was way too late and he felt bad interrupting his night. But he got up and plucked the device off the desk anyway, typing a message to Jeonghan.

_Are you up?_

He threw the device behind him on the bed, laying down once more as he awaited a response. He stared at the uniform Junhui gave him, hanging on the door of the closet. It was alarming how similar it was to his first uniform, the one he wore out in public for the first time.

Ironically, he was wearing it the first time he met Jeonghan, as well. He had just received the suit again after having it tailored, and he was trying it on for the first time. As he looked at himself in the mirror then, he felt like he was looking at a stranger. Over the course of the month he had been living at the palace, his hair had been cut, his brows and nails trimmed and shaped, his face scrubbed and slapped with more lotions and liquids than he could count. The outfit was the icing on the overly gaudy cake; he didn’t feel like himself anymore. He wanted to cry.

Just as he felt like tears would start flowing, there was a knock on the door. He sucked in a breath and called out, “Come in,” as calmly as he could muster.

Soojung, a young advisor to his parents tasked to look over Jihoon and his brother, opened the door with a small smile on her face. “Somebody is here to see you, young prince,” she said, eyeing him quickly. “It looks great! Maybe don’t wear the jacket, though. I get the feeling you might look a bit overdressed for this visitor.”

Jihoon looked down at himself and flushed, removing the jacket and tossing it on the nearest surface before fumbling out of the room behind Soojung. When they reached the corridor, there was a young boy sitting on the couch cross-legged, face resting in his palm, looking incredibly bored. Jihoon recognized him immediately as the prince of Earth, Yoon Jeonghan. He knew about him from the news before he was brought to the palace, and since he had arrived he had heard a bit of talk about him, as well. His reputation was quite bizarre; some said he was a bit standoffish and bratty, and others were completely enamored with his witty charms and handsome face. Frankly, Jihoon was intimidated.

But that all disappeared the moment he looked up and smiled at Jihoon, and it was the most genuine, delighted smile he had seen.

“Prince Jihoon!” he exclaimed, rising from his seat on the couch. He ran over to him and held both of Jihoon’s hands in his own, looking down at him excitedly. “I’m Jeonghan, the prince of Earth. It’s so nice to finally meet you! I have been dying to talk to you.” He squeezed his hands lightly. “We can just cut the formalities, you can call me Jeonghan and I’ll call you Jihoon. Sound good?”

Jihoon was overwhelmed by his enthusiasm, simply nodding in response. Jeonghan shook his hands around at that, looking over at Soojung, who looked like she was trying her hardest not to coo at them.

“Is it okay if we go now?” Jeonghan asked her.

“Sure, go ahead,” she said, tilting her head fondly.

“Great!” Still holding onto one of Jihoon’s hands, Jeonghan tugged him forward as he began walking. “Let’s head to the ship!”

“Where are we going?” Jihoon asked.

“We’re going to hang out on my planet so we can get to know each other! I already got permission from your parents, so don’t worry, you’re safe with me.”

“But you didn’t get permission from me.”

Jeonghan came to a halt, letting go of Jihoon’s hand and jolting his head back at him. Jihoon flinched at the action, but then Jeonghan turned towards him fully and bowed his head.

“My apologies. Jihoon, would you like to spend some time talking at my palace on Earth? I would really like to know you better.”

Jihoon smiled. “Yeah, sounds like fun.”

* * *

Once they were on the ship back to Earth, Jeonghan started chatting up a storm, telling Jihoon in great detail about the most inconsequential things he could think of.

“You have to be drafted into the academy soon too, right? I’m going really soon, I’ve been paying the place a visit every so often. There’s this one guy, I really like him, he gets along with everyone and takes care of everyone. And he actually talks to me like a person, and not like I’m made of glass! I hope he’s still there when I enter. Though I think he will be, since he’s apparently aiming for the royal guard.” Jeonghan paused, then sat back in his chair, looking concerned. “Jihoon?”

Jihoon, who was blankly staring out the window of the spacecraft, blinked at the sound of his name. He turned to Jeonghan. “Yes?”

“Why don’t you tell me about yourself? I’ve been talking about myself an awful lot. I want to know about you.”

Jihoon opened his mouth to speak, but he realized he couldn’t think of anything to say. Who was he right now? What could he share about his life that was still part of him? He suddenly thought of the grand piano in the main hall of the palace, which he was too shy to do anything but run his fingers over longingly since it had become his home.

“I like music,” he said finally.

Jeonghan’s face fell. “Is that all?”

Jihoon thought for a moment. “My brother and I...play songs together sometimes. I’ll play piano and he’ll sing, or vice versa. Or we both sing.”

Jeonghan smiled. “That sounds nice. I’m sure you two are both quite good.”

“Why me?”

Jeonghan jumped back a bit at the question, startled by the accusatory tone in Jihoon’s voice. “What?”

“Why...did you want to be friends with me? And not my brother? I don’t understand.”

Jeonghan stared at Jihoon incredulously for a moment before folding his hands in his lap. “Why did you leave home, Jihoon?”

“It wasn’t my choice. I had to.”

“Did you ever resist?”

Jihoon was stunned to silence. Why would he, if there was nothing he could do about it?

“No, but—”

“So what made you so willing to leave? Was there nothing keeping you there?”

Anger bubbled in Jihoon’s chest. “Of course there was, there was my grandmother, my friends, the town I grew up with, the—”

“But you didn’t fight for any of those things.”

“I—” Jihoon sat back in the chair, defeated. “I didn’t think I could. And I thought to myself, if I leave here, even if it hurts, maybe I can actually do something to make sure they’re always safe.”

Jeonghan let a satisfied smirk spread across his face. Jihoon stared at him in confusion, until his eyes widened in realization.

“I never thought about it that way,” he admitted softly.

Jeonghan closed his eyes and nodded in understanding. “When I first saw you and your brother,” he began to explain, “I was intrigued. Of course, everyone is paying attention to you both right now. You’re quite the hot topic. When I saw your brother, I knew he was ready for this just by looking at him. I could see it in his eyes, his demeanor. He adapted quickly.” Jeonghan leaned forward. “But you were different. You were reluctant, but you were there. Trying. I couldn’t stop thinking about that. It made you different not only from your brother, but from everyone else.”

Jihoon sat dumbstruck across from Jeonghan. He never consider his own motivations for leaving for the palace, but Jeonghan, someone who had never met him, had read it plainly on his face. He couldn’t tell if he was impressed or frightened.

“That’s what made me think I wanted to talk to you,” Jeonghan continued. “You seemed like you didn’t lose yourself once you took on this role of being a prince.”

JIhoon laughed darkly. “I feel like I lost everything about myself when I left home. I don’t know who I am anymore.”

“I think you’re just not looking at the parts that matter,” Jeonghan said.

Jihoon winced. “Jeonghan, I really like you, but why are you acting like you know me?”

“I’m not,” Jeonghan said, head leaning against a balled fist on the armrest. “Only you know yourself. But I do know you’re going to be a great prince, and an even better king some day.”

Jihoon flushed a bit at the weighty compliment. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Jeonghan smiled a wide smile. “And I’m glad you like me. I’m only more fond of you now.”

* * *

The buzz of his device pulled him out of his daydream, signaling a message from Jeonghan.

_Yeah I’m up, is everything okay?_

_Yeah. Just wanna talk. Can I call?_

_Yeah gimme a sec_

Jihoon stared at the screen until the incoming call alert from Jeonghan flashed across it. He set the device on the edge of his bed as he answered it and the image of Jeonghan was projected in front of him. He looked like he was outside, probably so as to not disturb a sleeping someone (Seungcheol). His voice was hushed when he spoke.

“Hey,” Jeonghan said, mild concern strewn across his features. “What’s going on? Are you alright?”

“Hey,” Jihoon said back. “I’m fine. Sorry for calling so late.” He smiled. “I feel like it’s been forever since we talked, even though it hasn’t been that long.”

“Yeah,” Jeonghan said, shifting positions, shoulders loosening when he sensed no bad feelings from Jihoon. “What did you want to talk about? How’s the training camp going?”

“It’s not that bad,” Jihoon answered. “I get along well with the instructors since they’re mostly around my age. I’m actually learning a lot. There’s a lot of good resources here.”

“That’s a relief. I thought you would try to find a new way to escape with every passing day,” Jeonghan said, laughing. “And Soonyoung?”

Jihoon froze, not missing how Jeonghan’s eyebrow cocked upwards at his lack of response. _What about him?_ He bitterly thought, immediately regretting calling Jeonghan because nothing went past him. But really, most of his crushing thoughts started and ended with Soonyoung. His kind smile, the relief he felt now that they were on good terms, their unspoken trust. The vivid image of his wound while Jihoon was cleaning it, the piercing scream he let out when he was stabbed, the panicked glances he caught Soonyoung giving him since they returned. The knowledge they were being targeted. The uncertainty of who it was and why.

The fact that in a few days time, almost all of his negative feelings towards Soonyoung had completely melted away, and all that was left was a soft tug at his heart when he thought of him.

“We’re fine, actually,” Jihoon began. “We’re getting along. It took quite a bit of talking, but we’re good now.”

“No way. Really?” Jeonghan sat back in shock. “That’s great, Jihoon. I never thought I’d see the day. Are you happy?”

Jihoon fell into silence again, unsure how to answer. This time, he knew he was screwed when both of Jeonghan’s eyebrows raised in shock.

“Jihoon?” He asked. “Is this why you wanted to call? Do you...have...feelings for him?”

“I do _not_ ,” Jihoon insisted. He didn’t want to get too hasty. But he felt like he couldn’t speak, like there was a lump in his throat.

“Well?"

Jihoon gulped. “Well, something...happened.”

“Something?”

“Yeah. I can’t tell you. I’m sorry.”

Jeonghan smiled mischievously. “Are you embarrassed?”

“No! It’s not that!” Jihoon sighed. “I want to, trust me. But I don’t think it’s a good idea. It’s…” Jihoon racked his brain for phrasing that wouldn’t set off alarm bells in Jeonghan’s head. “Confidential.”

“Huh.” Jeonghan nodded, unconvinced. “Confidential like, academy confidential? Or your privacy confidential?”

“Jeonghan.” Jihoon didn’t hide the annoyance in his tone. “It’s academy related. I told you, I want to tell you.”

“Okay, okay. Sorry.” Jeonghan folded his arms in his lap. “Well, you brought it up, so what’s bothering you about this something?”

“It has to do with Soonyoung because...he kind of...went out of his way to do something for me. Like, _really_ out of his way. I...” Jihoon trailed off, not sure how to continue.

Jeonghan waited for him to continue, but when he realized Jihoon wasn’t going to say anything, he spoke up again. “Are you surprised?”

“Yeah,” Jihoon breathed out. “Very.”

Jeonghan smiled, this time filled with fondness. “That’s how he is, Jihoon.”

“I know, I kind of already knew that based on his reputation,” Jihoon said, dragging a hand down his face. “I just...didn’t think he would be like that towards me. It wasn’t even a few days ago that we still hated each other’s guts.” Jihoon heaved another sigh. “I just feel like I severely misjudged him for so long. And I feel shitty about it.”

“Well, I don’t think you misjudged him exactly,” Jeonghan began. “He is a bit of a wild card, and he’s not really good at thinking before he acts. It gets him in trouble sometimes but it’s also what makes him so stupidly selfless. It’s just unfortunate it took so long for you to see the rest of him.”

“Yeah, I wish it hadn’t,” Jihoon propped a hand on his chin. “I feel like I missed out on a great comrade. Even though it sounds like a good deal of that would have been making sure the idiot didn’t do anything dumb or get himself in danger.”

“Aw, Jihoon,” Jeonghan said fondly. “Soonyoung must have sacrificed a lot for you, huh? I’m not surprised you’re getting along, but to hear you care about him to this extent is quite shocking.”

Jihoon gritted his teeth at the overly affectionate phrasing. He didn’t mean to say all that in front of Jeonghan, but it was too late to deny it now. Maybe he did care about Soonyoung. Was that such a crime?

To Jihoon, it felt like one. At the very least, he was scared of what would come of it.

He thought back to the attack, and realized the rest of his troubles he couldn’t air out with Jeonghan. “Yeah, it was a lot.” Jihoon smiled. “Thanks for talking to me even though it’s so late. I already feel better.”

Jeonghan grinned easily. “Of course. Don’t hesitate to call me for anything else you’re going through, okay? I’m here for you.”

“Yeah,” Jihoon’s tone went soft. “I know.”

* * *

Talking to Jeonghan helped Jihoon more than he expected. He wasn’t completely racked with guilt around Soonyoung now, feeling some ease about their budding relationship.

But one thing was still eating at Jihoon. He couldn’t tell Jeonghan that he felt partially responsible for Soonyoung now. He did care about his well-being, that was true, but it was influenced by the fact that Soonyoung was willing to risk his life for him. He was constantly worried about seeming ungrateful, and not doing enough to give back to Soonyoung for his sacrifice.

Frustratingly enough, though, Soonyoung was trying to make things up to Jihoon, as well. He still felt guilty about convincing him to leave the camp and putting him in danger. Unlike Jihoon, who only stuck by Soonyoung’s side like an obedient watchdog, Soonyoung was always paying Jihoon small favors. Offering him food, helping him in their physical and combat training, carrying things around the academy for him, even leaving him little reminders under his door.

“You know, Soonyoung,” Jihoon said in a hushed tone as they sat outside Jiyoung’s office, waiting for her to call them in for individual evaluations, “risking your life for me is already a pretty big payment for putting me in a difficult situation.”

“I don’t think it’s enough, though,” Soonyoung said, staring at the wall directly in front of him. Neither of them dared to look at each other in fear of bringing attention to their conversation. “I made a really big mistake. It was thoughtless and irresponsible of me to do that. Not just by putting myself at risk, but you, too. I don’t feel I’ve done enough to make up for that yet.”

Jihoon sighed. “I’m telling you now, you’ve done more than enough. The biggest favor you could do for me is to focus on getting better and letting your shoulder heal.”

Soonyoung’s lips twitched upwards. “You really care about me that much?”

Jihoon sighed. There it was again, him _caring_ about Soonyoung. “Yes, you idiot, considering your shoulder is injured because of me. If you don’t take care of your injury properly and let it get out of hand, I won’t forgive you.”

Soonyoung turned to him, eyes disappearing from his blinding grin. “Okay, I won’t, Jihooni—”

Jihoon grabbed him by the collar abruptly, bringing his face close to Soonyoung’s threateningly, eyes narrowing. “Do not call me that again.”

Soonyoung heaved out a tense breath when Jihoon let go of his collar. “Alright, I’m sorry, I won’t, Jihoo...n.” Jihoon rolled his eyes, wondering if Soonyoung had been mentally regarding him by that horrid nickname for longer than he was aware of.

“Kwon Soonyoung, you may enter,” called out Jiyoung, and Soonyoung scrambled to his feet and rushed into her office. Jihoon sat impatiently in wait, wondering what the commander had to say about his improvement. Despite the frustrated groans of one of the commander’s ranking officers dealing with her computer, he began to mentally track everything he had been working on in his individual study. He heard the door open after a few minutes and the commander’s voice say “Tell Jihoon he may enter, Soonyoung."

“Of course, Commander Jiyoung,” Soonyoung said in a much too formal tone. Jihoon stood and looked at Soonyoung, expecting him to comment on the meeting, but instead he grabbed Jihoon’s arm as he passed him and leaned in close to his ear.

“Make sure you grab the papers on her desk,” Soonyoung said in a harsh whisper.

“What?” Jihoon asked, taken aback by Soonyoung’s intensity.

“You’ll understand when you see it. Just do whatever it takes to get them.” His grip on Jihoon’s arm got tighter. “I’ll be waiting in the hallway.”

Soonyoung walked away without so much as a glance, and Jihoon’s heart was hammering in his chest with fear as he walked in. Jiyoung’s smile was serene, completely different from their first meeting.

“Welcome, Jihoon,” she said, folding her hands together. “You may sit, or you can stand if you’d like. This shouldn’t take long, I’d just like to inform you of how I’ve evaluated your progress.”

“Of course, Commander,” Jihoon said. Eyeing the desk, he realized he wouldn’t be able to see much if he sat down. “Standing is just fine.”

She nodded as she began reading off reports from their various instructors, comparing his current progress with the expected rate. Jihoon tried his best to discreetly glance at the desk from time to time, despite the unorganized piles that the commander had created. He was surprised to find that she was this messy.

And then, Jihoon saw it.

Sitting on the far right side of her desk was a paper with a bizarre crest between walls of text, in what appeared to be a classified document. Jihoon immediately recognized the crest—it was what had been on the chest of the sentry robots that attacked him and Soonyoung. He tried his best to hide his reaction from the commander, who was still looking over reports. He held his hands behind his back to keep them from fidgeting nervously.

“Lastly, I have noticed great improvement in your relationship with Soonyoung,” Jiyoung said. “You two have been quite civilized towards each other. Did anything inspire this change?”

Jihoon stiffened in horror. _Yeah, but I’m not about to tell you,_ he thought.

“We have just been trying very hard to communicate openly with each other,” Jihoon answered instead. Which wasn’t entirely untrue. “We’ve talked through some of our differences and are trying our best to understand and learn from one another. We are trying to see each other as allies.”

“Good. That’s wonderful to hear.” The smile on her face seemed genuinely content. “Soonyoung mentioned the same thing. Allies, is it? Very mature of you two. I hope this persists.”

Jihoon gave a nod. “Thank you, Commander.” He loomed awkwardly over her desk, rattling his brain for anything to stall his time or give him a chance by himself in the office. Desperate, he used the first half-hearted idea he could think of.

“Ah, if we are done, Commander Jiyoung, I do believe I heard Officer Jinah struggling with the computer outside earlier. I believe she wanted your help?”

Jiyoung sighed deeply, pushing herself off the desk. “What is it now? That girl is seriously hopeless with machines. How many times do I have to explain simple things to her?” Jihoon watched her walk out of the office without a second thought, surprised that his plan worked. He quickly snatched the small pile of papers off the desk, shoving them inside his shirt as he tried his best to walk out of the office casually. Once he was outside, he noticed Soonyoung anxiously pressed against the wall. He caught sight of Jihoon and bounced off the wall, eyes wide with concern.

“So?” Soonyoung asked.

Jihoon smiled, clutching his chest where the papers fell in his shirt. “Bingo.”

* * *

They all but ran to Soonyoung’s room, where they decided to look over the papers. When they entered the room, Jihoon took the folded papers out of his shirt and spread them on the floor, ready to inspect their contents closely. He noticed the blood stained and cut up shirt on the floor by the foot of Soonyoung’s bed. He tried to ignore it.

Soonyoung leaned in closely, doing his best to take in the information on the papers. Jihoon began reading the first page, the one with the crest on it. The more he read, the more the dull throb in his head from anxiety grew to a searing pain. He felt ill.

“I don’t get any of this,” Soonyoung said. “What kind of—” Soonyoung looked up at Jihoon, who was gripping the paper tightly. “Jihoon? Are you okay?”

“Soonyoung,” he began. “Look at what it says here.”

He pointed to the very first line of the document, Soonyoung’s eyes widening as he read it out loud.

“Dangerous rebel group from outside Milky Way likely to have infiltrated government positions on Venus…” he turned to Jihoon, shoulders heavy with worry. “So what does that mean? What kind of positions?”

“Well, if you keep reading, it says that they could have made it all the way to the royal council, particularly in the security sector,” Jihoon said.

“Wow…” Soonyoung trailed off. “That’s so close to us. Like in the palace?”

“Not just that,” Jihoon continued. “Think about it, Soonyoung. Nobody was ever alerted when we left the premises or when we returned through a large aircraft, and they attacked us right when we left the training grounds. Doesn’t that seem a little too perfect?”

Soonyoung’s face was contorted in confusion for a few moments before he gasped in realization. “You mean…”

“Yes. Some of them are most likely in this academy, right now, watching over us.”

Soonyoung closed his eyes tightly, his hand on the carpet clenching tightly into a fist. “So it could be anyone, right? Even the commander?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” Jihoon organized the papers, trying to see if anything else had valuable information. “However, I highly doubt it’s Commander Jiyoung. She is a practiced military official, and she would be a bit more careful than to leave important documents about this kind of organization lying around if she was a part of it.” He looked at Soonyoung, who was shaking a bit. “But I do think the fact that she was looking at this kind of information means that she’s suspicious of their presence in the academy. There’s a chance she is investigating them on their own.”

“But…” Soonyoung kept on. “There’s still a possibility it could be her, too.”

Jihoon clenched his jaw. “That’s right.”

Soonyoung looked at Jihoon pleadingly, as if he was asking for reassurance. “Then who can we trust?”

“Nobody. Except for each other.”

Soonyoung looked down at the floor again, then suddenly recoiled backwards. “Wait. How do I know that I can trust you?”

Jihoon grinned bitterly. “You can’t. I have no reason to trust you right now either. But we made a pact, and we’re going to trust each other anyway. Right?”

“You’re right. Sorry.” Soonyoung gave him a small smile, and Jihoon could tell it was the best he could manage right now. “You’ve got my back, and I’ve got yours. And we’re going to make sure neither of us are hurt by these people again.”

* * *

It made Jihoon quite nervous, but Soonyoung gave him the papers to keep. He took the opportunity to read more about the rebel group in his room that evening. They were called Phoenix, explaining the birdlike image Jihoon had seen on their crest, and they were unsatisfied with the state of the ruling families in the solar system. They felt they were tarnishing the Milky Way as well as all neighboring galaxies, and their goal was to restore the solar system to the “state it was meant to be in,” had Earthlings died out along with the Earth when it began to die thousands of years ago.

Jihoon scoffed at this. He understood where they were coming from, but he could not relate to their violent tactics. “Taking the lives of innocent people does nothing,” he mumbled to himself.

Moreover, learning this made it perfectly clear why they were attacked as soon as they left the academy. As two vulnerable future princes from powerful families, they had targets over their heads. It filled Jihoon with dread, but he was comforted by the fact that they hadn’t been bothered so long as they were on the training grounds.

Still, he felt uneasy doing nothing. The papers had very little information aside from suspicions of their activity and the overview of the group, and he wanted to know more so he could better protect himself and Soonyoung. He spent his time at the library researching the group as much as he could. Much to his frustration, though, most of his leads were dead ends. But he couldn’t sit in wait of their next move. So he asked Minghao for his advice on strength and combat training.

“You want to be more physically adept?” Minghao asked, packing away the materials from their training. “I can help you with that, but wouldn’t it be better to ask Yebin for that? She is your designated physical trainer, after all.”

“Don’t you train with Soonyoung?” Jihoon said.

“That was more of an accident,” Minghao clarified. “We met before the first day of your courses, and we found our martial arts style was very similar, so I offered to help him improve.”

“But it’s not just strength that I want to improve on,” Jihoon persisted. “I want to know how to defend myself. Whether it be with fighting or weapons. Anything.”

Minghao raised an eyebrow at this. “Why are you suddenly concerned with this?”

Jihoon froze. “Well...I just don’t want to fall behind Soonyoung. He’s already so good and trains with you all the time, I feel like I’m being left in the dust. I know I’m lacking so I want to focus on what I’m not very good at instead of what I already know.”

“Wow, I’m impressed.” Minghao thought for a moment. “Well, before you decide on anything, I think it would be best to hone in on one of your best qualities for your supplementary training instead of touching all bases. I’ve noticed you’re not exactly physically strong, but you’re quite quick on your feet. Is there anything you have spent a lot of time doing before you got here?”

Jihoon hesitated. “...Archery?”

“Oh!” Minghao’s eyes widened in shock. “That explains why your reflexes are so sharp.” He fell silent for a moment, as if he was considering something. “I’ll tell you what. There is actually an archery course between here and the palace. It’s not technically part of the training grounds, but I think this is a special situation where it should be okay. I’ll alert Prince Jun and Commander Jiyoung about your plans to use the course so that they’re not startled. Wait here, let me grab you an access card to the course.”

Minghao disappeared for a few minutes then came back with a card, placing it in Jihoon’s palm.

“Thank you, Minghao,” Jihoon said.

“No problem,” he said with a smile. Jihoon began turning away but Minghao continued speaking.

“And Jihoon?”

“Yes?” Jihoon asked.

Minghao leaned in quite close. “Do you know of any abnormal activity regarding my private aircrafts?”

Jihoon stiffened. “Not at all. Minghao. Why do you ask?”

“I noticed the first aid kit on one of my crafts had been tampered with, as well as some of the weapons being in less than excellent condition. I thought maybe you had seen...someone...sneaking around. Since you two have been spending so much time together.”

“You mean...Soonyoung?”

Minghao nodded slowly.

Jihoon shook his head vigorously, then realized he was being a little too enthusiastic and slowed down. “As far as I’m concerned, he has been acting normal. We have just been spending our free time at the library and in the gardens. In fact, he probably spends more time outside of class training here than he does with me.” Jihoon narrowed his eyes. “I think it would be more likely that you have noticed something off about his behavior than me.”

Jihoon didn’t intend to sound so threatening, noticing Minghao recoil slightly in shock. But it did seem to get him off his back.

“I suppose you’re right.” He narrowed his eyes in thought, looking mildly unsatisfied. “Sorry for intruding. I hope the archery course is of use to you.”

* * *

Despite his access to the archery course and his intense desire to use it, Jihoon couldn’t will himself over to practice. His sleeping problems had only gotten worse since he and Soonyoung found out about Phoenix. It was reaching the point that he was nodding off in the middle of some of his lessons. His embarrassment got the best of him when Nayoung gave him a particularly murderous glare after he accidentally let out a loud snore. Soonyoung snickered, a little too delightfully for such an unsightly action. Jihoon scuttled out of the lesson directly to the nurse’s office, which was more like a hi-tech lab than a standard school infirmary.

When he entered, Eunwoo, the designated medic for the training grounds, gave him an enthusiastic smile. “Well, hello, Prince Jihoon! What brings you in today? Don’t tell me Prince Soonyoung told you that you can haggle medications out of me. I don’t support abuse of medicine like that.”

Jihoon gave a weak laugh. “No, not at all. I’ve actually been having trouble sleeping at night and it’s affecting my ability to concentrate during the day. Do you have anything that could help me?”

“Oh! Of course! Oh, you do have pretty heavy bags under your eyes, don’t you? You poor thing…”

Eunwoo began to rummage through her shelves, grabbing a few small bottles and containers as she went along.

“Now, for the most important one...ugh, where is it? I swear I just saw it…”

Jihoon peered at her large work area, grabbing a small bottle off the surface. “Um...could you be looking for this?”

Eunwoo turned around, her eyes widening as she snatched it from Jihoon in relief. “Yes, it’s exactly that one! How did you know that, prince?”

“Well, valerian is the most common ingredient in natural sleeping aids, so I just figured…”

“Huh.” Eunwoo sat at her stool and began crushing and mixing her ingredients. “Are you experienced in medicine, perhaps?”

Jihoon fumbled with his hands behind his back. “I have some interest. I studied it a bit on my home planet’s military academy.”

“That’s wonderful! It’s rare to find someone drawn to the medical field. You’re welcome to come study with me in your free time if you’d like to pick it back up. Ah, I don’t think you’d be able to do this next part, though...” She paused, quickly glancing at Jihoon before letting out a nervous laugh. “Do you mind looking away for a moment? I always get shy doing this in front of others…”

Jihoon raised his brow before straightening in realization. “Oh, of course!” He turned his back to Eunwoo, hearing a low hum.

“Okay, all done!”

He turned back as she placed a small bottle in his palm, the liquid inside glowing faintly. Jihoon looked up at her, eyes widening a bit.

“Eunwoo, would you happen to be…”

“From Earth’s moon, yes,” she said with a sigh. “Quite a predictable job for me to take on, huh?”

“I think it’s wonderful,” Jihoon said. “Admirable, even.”

Eunwoo smiled widely. “Wow, thank you, prince! Receiving that kind of praise from you feels so uncommon from what I’ve heard, is your sleep deprivation catching up to you?”

Jihoon laughed loudly. “Maybe so. But that doesn’t mean I don’t mean it.”

“Well, either way, it is much appreciated.” She began tidying the area with a bittersweet smile on her lips. “I initially went into medicine with the intent of research, since I wanted to understand the origins of my people’s healing power, even if we are a small race. But I found helping people much more rewarding, you know?”

A loud knock rang through the office, startling them both. Before Eunwoo could signal the offending knocker to enter, the door opened and a woman wearing a uniform similar to the commander’s entered. Eunwoo visibly stiffened.

“Eunwoo, what are you—” the woman stopped as she met eyes with Jihoon. “Oh! Prince Jihoon! What a surprise! Is Miss Eunwoo here using you as a little test rat? You know if anyone is off limits, doctor, it’s this guy right here!”

“The prince came to me to get help with a personal issue, Sooyoung,” Eunwoo said flatly.

“Ohhhhhh,” Sooyoung said, much more exaggerated than necessary. “That’s wonderful! I hope our little Eunwoo could make you feel better, prince!” She gave Jihoon a rather hard smack on the back, hand resting right below his nape.

“And how are you doing, little prince? I hear you’re getting along with that hothead from Mars well? That’s just lovely. Keep it up, yeah? We’re all expecting great things from you!”

Jihoon tried his best not to grimace at her, uncomfortable by her contact. “Yeah,” he managed, turning his mouth upwards in a pathetic attempt at a smile.

“Hm. Your expressions could use some work. We’ll get Mister Joshy to help you with that, okay?” She slapped Jihoon’s back once again, causing Jihoon to almost lose his balance.

Eunwoo frowned. “Was there a purpose for your visit, Sooyoung? I’d like to get back to my patient, if that’s okay with you.”

“Oh yeah!” Jihoon released a sigh of relief as Sooyoung walked away from him, removing her hand from his back. “Commander Jiyoung wanted me to check up on your progress with your research.”

“Again? It’s the same as yesterday, I’m looking into various combinations to make the solution more effective,” Eunwoo replied. “Is that all?”

“Hm.” Sooyoung placed a hand on her chin. “I guess so. But you better start treating me with respect, okay?” Sooyoung’s tone dropped to something serious and slightly sinister, startling Jihoon.

“Yes, ma’am,” Eunwoo responded. Sooyoung flashed Jihoon one last smile before briskly walking out the door.

Eunwoo heaved a loud sigh. “Why does she have to bother me so much? I swear, it’s like she’s trying to distract me instead of help me…”

Jihoon leaned forward. “Do you not like the officer?”

“No,” Eunwoo groaned. “She only comes to nag me about finishing a special recipe for some kind of strong, Earthly herbal medicine that was supposedly requested by the commander. I have my doubts, though, since the herbs Sooyoung asked me to use are quite lethal when combined, so I keep stalling when she asks me about my progress.”

“Huh.” Jihoon nodded slowly, eyes narrowing in the direction of the door. He rubbed the back of his neck, the spot where she uncomfortably laid her hand suddenly prickling his skin.

* * *

After a good night’s sleep thanks to Eunwoo’s medicine, Jihoon finally made his way to the archery course. It was much more impressive than the course at the palace back home—it was crafted to look like it had been carved out of the natural life around it. There were even garbs equipped in the small closet by its entrance. When Jihoon pulled it out, a note with a winking face fell out of its folds. He grimaced at Junhui’s attention to detail.

It was nice, being able to practice again. The quiet concentration that washed over him like a trance was something he missed, something he knew he was good at. With a bit of practice, he found he was coming close to a bull’s eye each time.

His peaceful afternoon, however, was broken when the door slammed open, causing him to let go of the bow way too early. His grip on the bow tightened as he lowered it, hissing in frustration.

“Jihoon!” Soonyoung shouted, desperation in his voice. His shoulders relaxed when he looked past Jihoon at the board. “Wow, is that the best you can do? Minghao said you were good at archery, so I came here expecting to be impressed.”

“I only did such a bad job because you startled the hell out of me, Soonyoung,” Jihoon said through gritted teeth. He began preparing the next arrow on the bow.

“Hm, I’m not buying it,” Soonyoung responded, obnoxious sing-song tone in his voice.

Jihoon paused, turning around and breathing out slowly. He blinked at Soonyoung, noticing something in his hand. “Where did you get that apple?”

“Right outside, there’s a pretty big tree! It was kind of hard to get this one, since it was kinda high up, but it looked _just_ ripe and juicy enough, so I—”

An arrow piercing the air between them interrupted Soonyoung, striking the apple right out of his hand, causing it to smack into the wall behind him and roll onto the ground. Soonyoung’s breath caught in his throat as he looked over to Jihoon, who was lowering his bow and trying his best to restrain a satisfied smirk from spreading across his face.

“Guess you better go get another one,” Jihoon said, plucking another arrow out of the quiver.

Soonyoung frowned dramatically, picking the apple up off the floor and yanking the arrow out of it. “This beat up one is just fine, thanks.” He leaned against the wall, arms crossed with arrow in one hand and apple by his mouth in the other, analyzing Jihoon’s form and movements. Jihoon tried his best to ignore his intense stare and focus on target practice, but he was pretty sure if he had the ability, Soonyoung’s eyes would have burned holes into his skull by now.

“Are you just going to stand there?” Jihoon asked, fumbling with the bow.

Soonyoung straightened out, nearly dropping the apple core he had been delicately twisting in his hand. “Well, I can’t practice with you, right? There isn’t enough equipment?”

“Of course there is. There’s plenty of equipment in the closet.”

“B-but...there’s only one uniform?”

“So? The training outfit you have on right now is just fine. I’m pretty sure Junhui just provided this outfit because he’s a cosplay obsessed weirdo, anyway.”

Soonyoung blinked. “Oh.”

Jihoon scoffed. “What, are you afraid that there’s finally an area where I can show you up?”

“N-no! It’s not that, I—”

“So what’s the hold up?”

They stared at each other for a moment, Jihoon’s expression one of exasperation and Soonyoung’s of hesitation, before Soonyoung pushed himself off the wall in a frustrated huff.

“Fine! I don’t know why you’re so desperate to train with me, you show-off, but I’ll have you know I practiced my fair share of archery on my planet, too!” Soonyoung briefly rummaged through the closet before swinging the equipment on his back and planting himself next to Jihoon’s spot. Jihoon watched him trying to set up his equipment as he casually plucked arrows off of the target.

“Need some help?” Jihoon asked bemusedly, sliding the arrows into the quiver.

“No! I’ve got it!” Soonyoung responded, agitation in his tone. “Just give me a minute.”

“Whatever you say,” Jihoon said. He continued his own training in silence for a few minutes until he saw Soonyoung out of the corner of his eye take aim at his own target. He noticed the arrow landed right at the edge of the board, causing Soonyoung to physically recoil. Jihoon slowed down his own pace, watching Soonyoung as his arrows kept flying far off the mark, low annoyed hiss leaving his lips each time.

Eventually, Jihoon sighed and put his arrow down. Soonyoung visibly tensed at this action, freezing mid-aim.

“You’ve got your technique all wrong,” Jihoon said matter-of-factly. He moved behind Soonyoung and began pulling his arms in different directions, adjusting their position ever so slightly. “Here...that should be better.”

Jihoon froze in his tracks suddenly, bringing his lips together in an annoyed pout. “Do you mind...um...crouching down a bit for this next part. To my height.”

Soonyoung turned around towards Jihoon, who was looking away in embarrassment, and a wide grin spread across his face as the tension left his shoulders. “Ah, too cute. Of course, Jihoonie.”

Jihoon groaned. “I have weapons at my disposal. Don’t test me.” As Soonyoung crouched down to meet his height, Jihoon positioned himself directly behind him, hands over Soonyoung’s on the bow and arrow, guiding his stance.

“Remember the position of the arrow relative to the target,” Jihoon said quietly, right into Soonyoung’s ear. He tried to not pay attention to the way Soonyoung sucked in a small breath. ”You’ll have to adjust it to your own height, but this should help.”

They were incredibly still and quiet for a few moments, Jihoon becoming increasingly aware of the spot where his chest was pressed against Soonyoung’s side.

“Okay,” came Soonyoung’s voice meekly soon after, signaling he understood.

“Alright,” Jihoon said, removing himself from Soonyoung, still hovering closely behind. “Now, shoot.”

Soonyoung let go and the silence allowed the sound of the arrow piercing the air to be heard throughout the room, landing right between the bull’s eye and the next closest ring. Soonyoung slowly lowered the bow and arrow and turned to Jihoon in awe. Jihoon didn’t miss the slight flush of his cheeks. He hoped the heat that was creeping onto his own face wasn’t that noticeable.

“Thanks,” was all Soonyoung said, still looking quite dumbstruck.

Jihoon cleared his throat, averting his attention back to his own equipment. “No problem. Your form was just annoying me...is all.”

Soonyoung scoffed. “I hope that’s an invitation to grill the shit out of you during physical training.”

“Of course it is,” Jihoon responded. “I’m not just going to watch you perform poorly when I have the ability to help you improve. I’d expect the same from you.”

“Oh,” Soonyoung said, unable to hide the shock in his voice. “Well, sure.” A moment of quiet passed, Jihoon bringing his full attention back to his bow and not noticing how Soonyoung had completely stilled until he spoke up again.

“You’ve changed, Jihoon.”

Jihoon’s head shot up at the unexpected sincerity in Soonyoung’s tone to find him smiling warmly, looking right at him. He couldn’t restrain himself from mirroring back Soonyoung’s smile, looking down at his equipment to avoid eye contact.

“I guess I have.”

* * *

After quite an exhausting free afternoon of training with Yebin and learning about medicines at Eunwoo’s lab, Jihoon returned to his room to find a small gift bag right outside his door, elaborately tied with ribbon and sparkly tissue paper. It was even a little fragrant. He glanced over at Soonyoung’s door, noticing there was one waiting for him as well. Nervous, he picked it up carefully to inspect it, and found a folded card tucked neatly inside with his name written in flawless penmanship on the front. He narrowed his eyes.

It reeked of Junhui.

Opening the card, he read the note inside:

_Jihoon! I am hosting a party at the palace tonight at 7pm. I would really really really like if you could be there. Since I know you don’t have much to wear to events like this, I gifted you everything you need to look your very best tonight. And yes, it is a masquerade, so please wear the mask as well. Hope to see you there, since you will be all by yourself at the academy otherwise. Nobody misses one of my parties!_

_Junhui_

He winced. Of course. He took a peek in the bag as he entered his room, noticing some clothes and shoes, as well as a few tiny bottles in the bag. He groaned, tossing the bag near his bed as he plopped down on it. He was tired. He could deal with this later.

Later, apparently, was once he awoke from his comatose nap, jolting up out of the bed as he checked the time. Less than 30 minutes to get ready. Great. He jumped in the shower and rinsed himself off at lightning speed, throwing everything out of the gift bag and onto the bed once he was done. Jihoon inspected Junhui’s gifts, identifying the bottles finally as cologne and hair products. He squinted at them, particularly the cologne; he brought it to his nose and noticed a hint of florals. He disregarded his mild annoyance and started getting dressed with the outfit provided in the bag.

As he grabbed the long silk ribbon from off the bed, wondering where he was supposed to wear it, he caught a glimpse of the small note attached to the end: “Tie it in a bow!” He groaned and made a note to give Junhui a mouthful about his stupid dress-up games when he saw him later. He did as the note said, eyeing himself in the mirror as he finished the bow around his neck, feeling embarrassed. The puffy, long sleeves on his dress shirt with frilled ends combined with the bow made him look boyish, no doubt intentional, thanks to his stature. He would definitely be much angrier if he didn’t look so good.

There was one thing missing, though. He grabbed the mask off of the bed, really looking at it for the first time. It was quite nice, all white with pearl accents. The ribbon to tie it was the same color as the bow on Jihoon’s neck, a deep shade of violet. The color almost reminded him of…

 _No, don’t think about that,_ Jihoon thought to himself, though he was sure that was another stupid touch added by Junhui. He stared at it awkwardly, not sure whether or not to put it on yet. He decided against it, styling his hair quickly and spritzing the cologne on himself before heading to the palace.

He opened the door to his room cautiously, looking around, starkly aware of the silence cast on the halls. It seemed like Junhui was right—the academy was dead. He noticed Soonyoung’s gift bag was missing from in front of his door as well, meaning he was probably already at the palace.

Jihoon stepped out of the room reluctantly. He was fully prepared to make the anxious walk to the palace on his own until a voice from behind him called out to him.

“Jihoon?”

He jumped, startled at the company and turned to find Joshua walking towards him, smiling warmly. He was dressed formally, with what appeared to be a mask tucked into the breast pocket of his coat.

“Good evening,” Jihoon said back, trying his best to be courteous in front of his etiquette instructor. “You look nice. Are you going to the party too?”

“Of course! Nobody misses parties thrown by the Prince of Venus.” He stopped next to Jihoon, hands held behind his back politely. “You’re looking quite lovely yourself. Did Junhui pick this out for you?”

Jihoon rolled his eyes. “What do you think?”

Joshua laughed. “You’re right. This certainly has his name all over it. He did a nice job, though, this look really suits you well.” He eyed Jihoon’s outfit once before gesturing forward. “Should we walk together?”

“Sure.”

The walk along the corridor to the palace was quiet. It kind of intimidated Jihoon, but he at least felt safe, which he would have struggled with if he had walked by himself. The sun was low in the sky, as it had been since he arrived on Venus, but it was starting to get dark. Joshua was looking out the glass paneling, a pleased look on his face.

“I love this season on Venus,” he remarked. “The sunlight is so pretty. Makes me wish I could be here all the time.”

Jihoon looked at him questioningly. “Are you not native to Venus?”

“I’m actually from Earth,” Joshua said with a smile. “I travel a lot to coach, though. It seems my skills as a diplomat are quite valued across the solar system.”

“It must have been hard to get you to agree to do this, then.”

“Not quite,” Joshua said. “The prince asked me as a personal favor. It was...difficult to say no.”

“Really? Junhui?” Jihoon raised an eyebrow at this. “You two are that close?”

Joshua looked away. “You could say that.” At that, both of Jihoon’s eyebrows were raised until Joshua quickly turned around again with his typical polite smile plastered onto his face. “Anyway, you’ve never been to one of his parties, right? They’re quite memorable, so I’m sure you’re bound to enjoy yourself. We should also probably put on our masks now, since we’re just about at the palace.”

Jihoon looked ahead, noticing the hallway coming to an end. He fumbled with the mask that he had awkwardly been gripping, concerned about how to tie it tightly enough behind his head until he put it on and the mask stuck to his face like a layer of skin. Startled, he tied the ends comfortably behind his ears.

“Whoa,” he let out, shaking his head vigorously back and forth to make sure the mask wouldn’t fall off. Joshua couldn’t help but laugh at this.

“That’s Junhui for you,” he said. “I told you his eye for detail was excruciating. He would never miss an opportunity for something to look pretty, and he’s certainly not going to have his guests’ masks falling off in the middle of the party.”

“Will I be able to take it off?” Jihoon asked, concerned. He noticed Joshua’s mask was a simple, sleek black.

“Of course, he’s not a sadist,” Joshua retorted. As they entered the gigantic ballroom, already flooded with people, he looked up a flight of stairs and his smile melted into a much softer one. “Oh, speak of the devil.”

Jihoon’s eyes wandered to where Joshua was looking to find Junhui excitedly running down the stairs. He looped expertly around the crowds, bowing and smiling when necessary until he arrived in front of the two. His wide grin was undeniable.

“Jisoo,” he said warmly before looking over to Jihoon, his eyes widening. “And...Jihoon! Wow! Did not expect you guys to arrive together.” He put a contemplative hand on his chin. “I see my outfit choice worked out wonderfully. You look adorably superb. You used the hair products, too.”

“You kind of left me with no choice,” Jihoon said flatly. “I wasn’t about to come in my uniform.”

“Would have looked just as good, and most of these folks would be none the wiser.” He glanced over at Joshua quickly, putting a hand low on his back before looking back to Jihoon. “I’d love to stay and chat, but I have some...private matters to discuss with your instructor.”

Jihoon tried not to let his face fall in mild disgust at their lack of discretion. “Sure, go ahead. I’ll just see myself to the nearest alcohol.”

Conveniently enough, he heard a loud groan and chirpy complaints coming from what appeared to be the bar as soon as Junhui and Joshua walked away. He glanced over the crowd, seeing Wonwoo leaning against the bar with his head hanging low, and Kyungwon smacking his shoulder incessantly. Jihoon approached them, but not before asking the bartender to prepare him a drink.

“Oh, if it isn’t Jihoon!” Kyungwon cried before Jihoon had an opportunity to greet them. “Whoa, holy smokes. You look like the image of a little prince from a children’s book.”

“Thanks, it’s all Prince Junhui’s fault,” he said, voice laced with false enthusiasm.

Kyungwon brought her pointer finger to her lips and pointed at Wonwoo, who was sipping his drink dejectedly through a tiny straw. “Don’t mention that name around Mr. Grumpy Pants, he’s going through heartbreak right now.”

“I am not!” Wonwoo hissed. “I’m not that pathetic, okay? I might have been a little attracted to the prince, but I’m not a teenager.”

“Oh, come on, Wonwoo. Don’t try to play it off like it didn’t matter to you. I know how long you’ve been pining after him. You even told me on our way here you were going to try to get a dance out of him!”

At the mention of that, Wonwoo let out a breath that caused his drink to bubble up in its cup through the straw. “Maybe I did say that, but…”

“I’ll dance with you!” The three of them all turned around to look at the tall man standing over them, who happened to be their bartender just a few moments ago. Gone was the apron tied around his waist and he was smiling goofily at Wonwoo, flashing his prominent canines.

Wonwoo blinked. “What?”

“I mean, well, if you still wanted to dance with someone, I could, um. Do that,” As if a lightbulb went off in his head, he held out a hand towards Wonwoo. “May I have this dance?”

Reluctantly getting off the table, Wonwoo placed his hand atop the bartender’s. “Yeah, okay,” he said, letting the man lead him to the dance floor.

“Oh thank _god_ , I was positive he was going to make a fool of himself,” a voice said from behind Jihoon. He turned to see Minghao, who greeted him with a tiny smile.

Kyungwon leaned over Jihoon to look at Minghao. “Hey, you’re Minghao, the weapons guy, right? Isn’t that your partner?”

“Yup, that’s Mingyu,” Minghao nodded. “Ever since he went to the library to look for some old research books, he’s been crushing on your little librarian. I can’t believe he actually got a dance out of him, though.”

“Wait, forreal!?” Kyungwon leaned forward. “I feel like I vaguely remember Wonwoo talking about a really tall, awkward, yet very adorable guy coming in for some books about airships and stuff.”

As Minghao and Kyungwon continued to gossip about their friends, Jihoon exchanged a disinterested glance with the bartender that replaced Mingyu before downing his drink and getting up to take his leave. He did not want to be trapped between two wingmen. He was starting to feel overwhelmed by the crowds, so he stepped outside onto a balcony, where he was completely alone. He removed his mask and felt like he could breathe again.

A gentle breeze hit his skin and he inhaled deeply. The balcony looked over the garden of the palace and the wind made the foliage rustle lightly, the quiet noise a stark contrast to the buzz in the ballroom behind him. He had never been one for parties, and it was showing in the way his heartbeat subsided as he took in the calm of the balcony.

He heard one of the heavy doors behind him open and tried to control his breathing so he didn’t let out an exasperated huff. He knew his peace was short lived. He wasn’t even going to bother turning around to greet his company until a familiar voice shook him out of his trance.

“I knew I could find you here.”

Jihoon turned his whole body around to face his guest. Before he could even distinguish his features around his black lace mask, it was being removed from his face, and Jihoon’s breath caught in his throat.

Soonyoung stood in front of him, corners of his mouth turned up in a small smile, hair swept out of his face slightly, but not enough to stop it from falling over one of his brows. He was in an outfit that Jihoon now knew was, no doubt, picked out by Junhui. Under his sleek black suit was a white dress shirt with a ruffled collar and, of course, a thin ribbon in a deep red tied around his neck.

Junhui was _so_ dead.

“Um…” Soonyoung began, nervousness overtaking his features. “So Junhui gave you an outfit too? Seems like he’s pretty good at this. You look... _really_ nice.”

“You too,” Jihoon said, a little too quickly for his liking, trying to hide the marvel in his voice. Soonyoung reached out to grab one of the ends of Jihoon’s long bow, and Jihoon froze in an attempt to not make his entire body feel like it was on fire.

Soonyoung stared at the ribbon in his hand, gentle smile still on his lips. “Violet, huh…” He toyed with the ribbon between his fingers, and Jihoon did all he could to steady his breathing.

Jihoon wanted to run away. He wanted to forget this moment ever happened, forget how good Soonyoung looked right now, forget how he kept glancing up at Jihoon with a playful glint in his eye, forget how he couldn’t help leaning into the tug of Soonyoung’s hand, forget Jeonghan’s words that were echoing in his head.

“ _Do you have feelings for him?_ ”

 _This can’t be happening,_ Jihoon thought. His care for Soonyoung hit him like a freight train after they nearly died together—that was already enough to process after years of swearing to hate him forever. And now his heart was beating frantically in his chest because Soonyoung was standing so close to him, smiling all soft, looking like he stepped out of a fairy tale. He was surprising himself with the thoughts he was rushing to push out of his mind. But as the heat spread up his neck and onto his face, he found the urge to place his hands over Soonyoung’s own, to close the distance between them, overtaking everything else.

So Jihoon handled this the only way he knew how; he turned away from Soonyoung sharply, back facing him as he leaned against the smooth white pillars of the balcony. He was too afraid he would do something he’d regret if he didn’t.

“When did you get here?” Jihoon asked, desperately trying to change the subject.

“Right when it started,” Soonyoung answered, joining Jihoon in leaning against the balcony and staring out at the garden. Jihoon was slightly relieved that he didn’t seem offended at his sudden change of topic. “Not very like me to be punctual, but my love of parties beats out my lack of timeliness.”

At this, Jihoon couldn’t help but laugh, a smile cracking through his defenses. “At least you’re self-aware.”

“How about you? Have you been here long? I’m surprised you’re here at all.”

“So am I,” Jihoon answered. “I got here not too long ago and I already kind of regret it. I only came because Junhui said there would be nobody at the academy.”

“I’m sure he wasn’t wrong.” Soonyoung drummed his fingers against his cheek. “Have you already hit the bar? I just noticed it on my way out here.”  
  
“First thing I did, actually.”

Soonyoung laughed loudly. “Why am I not surprised?” He then turned towards Jihoon, leaning forward, smirk on his face. “Is that why your face looks so flushed right now?”

Jihoon gritted his teeth in annoyance. Oh, so he wanted to play _that_ game? Jihoon wasn’t going to fall for it so easily.

“Yeah, that must be it,” he responded, devoid of emotion.

“Hmm.” The grin didn’t leave Soonyoung’s face as he continued talking. “Well, you should at least try to make the night worthwhile. Maybe go back to the bar and have a few more drinks—”

“Not happening,” Jihoon interjected. He didn’t want to know what would happen in his vulnerable state if he put more alcohol in his system.

“—or I could introduce you to some people, or we could—I—” Soonyoung’s voice faltered a bit. Jihoon spared a glance at him, and his eyes were looking everywhere but Jihoon. “We could, uh, dance together.”

Jihoon’s eyes widened a bit at Soonyoung’s suggestion before he turned away again with a grimace. “I don’t know how to dance.”  
  
“What!?” Soonyoung exclaimed. “Not even a ballroom dance?”

“Nope. Never done it once.”  
  
“I can show you!” Soonyoung stepped forward, eyes pleading.

“I wouldn’t put you though that,” Jihoon winced.

“Come on, Jihoon. Don’t say it like that. I wouldn’t mind. And you need to learn anyway! You’re prince of the whole damn planet of Mercury! C’mon, what else are you going to do tonight? You should have fun!”

“I’ve survived just fine this long without knowing how.” Jihoon sighed. “Besides, I told you this isn’t really my idea of fun. I’m just here so I won’t be alone at the academy.”

“Fine,” Soonyoung huffed. “Then what do you intend to do for the rest of the party?”

“Beats me.”

They were both silent for a moment, Jihoon still staring into the garden as if he was hypnotized, and Soonyoung still facing Jihoon, running his finger along the marble of the columns. After a moment of thought, Jihoon’s eyes widened in realization.

“Wait. There’s nobody at the academy.”

“Yeah, you established that, like, a million times,” Soonyoung grumbled.

“No—Soonyoung.” Jihoon turned to Soonyoung grinning. “Nobody there means that nobody is there to watch us. We can sweep the training grounds for more clues about Phoenix without rousing any suspicion. It’s perfect!”

Soonyoung stared at Jihoon reluctantly. “I don’t know, Jihoon…”

“What do you mean? When are we going to have a chance like this again? Don’t you want to find out more about them? If we don’t do it now, we might not ever be able to get the upper hand before they attack us again.” Jihoon took a threatening step forward, which made Soonyoung fall back in response. “Well?”

“I just…” Soonyoung began, hesitant. “I don’t know if it’s a good idea. We might be walking into a trap.”

Jihoon sucked in a breath, trying his best to consider Soonyoung’s words. But his hands were balled into fists at his side, resolve firm.

“Fine,” Jihoon began. “If you don’t want to come with me, I’ll go by myself. I’ll tell you what I find later.” He made his way towards the heavy doors and just as he was about to turn the handle, he felt a hand grip his shoulder.

“Wait!” Soonyoung said. “I’ll—I’ll go with you.”

A satisfied smile tugged at Jihoon’s lips. “Put on your mask,” Jihoon said, turning to Soonyoung. “It will make us less noticeable. Then meet me by the north doors.”

* * *

Once Jihoon and Soonyoung had snuck around the outside of the palace to the corridor connecting it to the academy, the walk was quiet. Jihoon walked ahead of Soonyoung, stride filled with purpose, and Soonyoung was silent, trailing behind him at a distance that was beginning to annoy him. Jihoon came to a halt, and he heard Soonyoung continue to take meek steps until he bumped into Jihoon’s back, startled.

Jihoon turned swiftly on his heel. “Why did you come with me?”

Soonyoung blinked. “What?”

“You didn’t think this was a good idea. And you’re suspiciously quiet. Why are you here?”

Soonyoung opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again, defeated. He looked caught.

“Don’t tell me you’re just here to watch over me,” Jihoon said through gritted teeth.

“Well…” Soonyoung’s stance suddenly became defensive. “So what if I am? What’s wrong with that?”

Jihoon rolled his eyes, turning again to walk away. “I don’t need to be protected,” he grumbled. “I’m not a porcelain doll. I can handle this on my own.”

“No, Jihoon!” Soonyoung ran to catch up with him, grabbing his arm to hold him in place. “It’s not like that. It’s just...if you came by yourself, and something ended up happening to you, I would never be able to forgive myself knowing I could have come, too.”

JIhoon took in a deep breath. He tried to stop himself from yelling, but he could feel the anger bubbling in his chest.

“And what if I am in danger?” He snapped. “What are you going to do, jump in to save me before I have a chance to act myself and injure yourself again? Potentially worse this time? Because that’s exactly what you said last time, too. Your shoulder isn’t fully healed, did you ever stop to think about how that might affect you in actual hand-to-hand combat with a potential threat? How it might not be as treatable as last time?” Jihoon could hear his voice getting louder with every accusation he hurled at Soonyoung.

Soonyoung stood quietly, taking all of Jihoon’s hits, eyes growing wider as his outburst continued. While Jihoon took harsh breaths to regain his composure, a huge grin spread across Soonyoung’s face.

“What? Why the hell are you smiling?”

“Oh, nothing,” Soonyoung said casually, still smiling. “It’s just that not that long ago, you would have told me to fuck off and die in this exact scenario. And now you’re getting so worked up over the idea that I might get hurt that you’re shouting at me.”

Jihoon sputtered, caught off guard by Soonyoung’s explanation. “Wh—”

“Anyway, you need to stop deciding things on your own.” Soonyoung reached out and took one of Jihoon’s hands in his own, placing his other hand over it. “I came with you because I wanted to. If there’s trouble, I didn’t want you to deal with it alone. And maybe, try believing in me a little bit more? I took a calculated risk when I took a knife for you, but I know to be more careful. I’m not exactly a fan of being hurt myself.”

Jihoon stared at his hand in Soonyoung’s, unable to meet the tender gaze Soonyoung was giving him. He wanted to say something in response, like “thank you,” or “I’m glad you’re here,” or even “I couldn’t have done this without you.” He tensed at the dawning realization that he might have just been upset at himself for needing Soonyoung with him so badly.

Soonyoung squeezed Jihoon’s hand. “Come on, let’s not waste any more time.”

“Right.” Jihoon retracted his hand and turned his back to Soonyoung. “Sorry I got upset with you.”

“It’s okay, it’s not like I’m not used to it,” Soonyoung said. “Though I have to admit, it’s kind of funny that it’s because you’re so worried about my safety instead of you hating my guts.”

Jihoon huffed out a laugh as a smile broke out on his face. “You say that like you didn’t hate me just the same.”

Soonyoung let out a nervous laugh that Jihoon intended to comment on, but a strange movement outside of the glass walls of the corridor caught his eye. He froze, intently scrutinizing their surroundings outside of the long hall.

“What’s up?” Soonyoung asked, walking up next to Jihoon.

“Nothing,” he said after a few moments of stillness. He continued walking. “I was thinking we could hit the commander’s office and the surrounding offices first. Sound good?”  
  
“What!?” Soonyoung’s jaw fell open in horror. “That sounds like a horrible idea! Isn’t that the most dangerous place to look?”  
  
“Not at all,” Jihoon said calmly. “It’s actually the most opportune space to investigate. We probably won’t have a chance to search so deeply in there again.”

“What if we get caught?”

“We won’t. Like I said, if the commander or anyone else responsible for that area is part of this terrorist group, they’re not going to mention anything out of fear of getting caught. And if we do get caught, it means we can tell the commander about our intentions and what happened to us.”

Soonyoung swallowed thickly. “And what if we get caught by the bad guys?”

“Then we can fight them off, like we know how to do,” Jihoon said confidently.

“Okay,” Soonyoung said, looking at his feet. “I trust you.”

Jihoon grinned. “Thank you.”

Once they made their way past the corridor into the training grounds, they fell completely silent, scanning the halls for the presence of others as they passed. It was eerily quiet, and some lights had been shut off due to the lack of movement. Each dark room seemed to contain a menacing secret as they crept about. When they reached the offices, they gave each other a quick glance before nodding silently and opening the door. Soonyoung flicked on the lights and looked around, then quietly signaled it was okay to enter.

“This feels wrong,” Soonyoung said, looking like he was going to shrink into himself in the middle of the offices.

“Not as wrong as attacking innocent people,” Jihoon said lifelessly, making his way towards Jiyoung’s office door. “You check out here, and I’ll look inside the commander’s office. Let me know if you find anything weird.”

It was daunting being inside the commander’s office. Aside from the fact that he didn’t know what would happen to him if she actually caught onto the fact that her belongings had been tampered with, there was enough of a mess that Jihoon didn’t know where to begin. He moved around some of the papers on top of the desk, hoping to find something lying around like last time. Instead, it was mostly just files and records of the academy, including some notes from his instructors that he suspected were probably better left unseen. He moved onto the shelves behind the desk, which only contained history books that he made a note to check for at the library later. There were various other trinkets lying around, mostly for decoration, none of them arousing any suspicion after inspection.

Defeated, Jihoon decided to give a tug at one of the drawers of the desk, momentarily startled when it wouldn’t open. He noticed a lock near the top, brow cocking in curiosity. He searched the top of the desk for anything he could use to pick the lock and settled on a paperclip. As he bent it into an appropriate shape, he heard Soonyoung complaining loudly from outside.

“Would it kill them to be a little bit more organized in here!?” Soonyoung shouted, frustration clear in his voice.

“I don’t want to hear that coming from you,” Jihoon shouted back, messing with the lock.

“Hey!” Soonyoung exclaimed. “I can be organized when I want to be!”

Jihoon ignored him as the drawer popped open, revealing tons of clippings from papers, magazines and scans of books. As Jihoon carded through them, he found they were all about the same thing.

The Phoenix Organization.

“Oh my god,” Jihoon said under his breath, scanning over countless stories about their suspected presence on certain planets, attacks linked back to them, new information that had been uncovered about them. They all took place among a wide period of time, and none of the events were seemingly correlated, except for some invasions on Neptune’s moons that led to a large number of group members and leaders being caught, arrested or even killed. His eyes landed on one story about an attack on Mercury, which he immediately picked out of the pile and began to read closely.

“Um, Jihoon?” Soonyoung cried, a bit frantically, from the other room.

“Give me a second,” Jihoon responded, trying to digest the information on the page.

“I think you’re gonna want to see this,” Soonyoung continued. “Like, now.”

Jihoon looked up towards the door in concern, shoving the clipping in his pocket and closing the drawer. He went over to where Soonyoung was among the desks in the outside offices, staring down at something on the desk’s surface.

Soonyoung looked at Jihoon, eyes wide in distress. “Look at this,” he said, pointing to the sheet of paper on the desk.

Jihoon looked closely at the paper, which after a few moments of inspection he noticed was a map of an area of the academy centered around the library. He blinked, trying to make sense of all the markings.

“It’s a map,” he finally said, confused.

“Right,” Soonyoung said. “But isn’t there something weird about it?”

Jihoon looked closer, eyes scanning for anything out of place. Before he had a chance to figure it out on his own Soonyoung’s finger slammed down on it, pointing to an unmarked area.

“Here,” Soonyoung said with finality.

Jihoon leaned in closer to the map. “That’s on the second floor of the library.”

“Right,” Soonyoung continued. “But there are no doors on the second floor. So where does this go?”

Jihoon looked at the map once more, understanding it fully now. The area beyond the second floor of the library showed a hall that had no end, its lines going off the map.

“Where did you find this, Soonyoung?”

“Under one of the desks,” he responded. “It was just taped there.”

Jihoon stared at it, etching the image into his memory before moving to leave.

“Put it back,” he began, “and then let’s go.”

* * *

Pushing open the large doors to the library, the two realized just how much more intimidating it would be to explore the library in the darkness than the small space of the offices. The only source of light was dim lamps surrounding some of the shelves, and the glow of the bulbs from the garden outside of the library shining in through its tall windows. The occasional creaking of the old wood floors and shelves settling into place was the only noise in the giant room. It was unsettling, and Jihoon had to restrain every cell in his body from tightly gripping Soonyoung’s arm like a frightened child.

“Can’t we turn some lights on?” Soonyoung asked, voice wavering.

“It’s probably a bad idea,” Jihoon admitted. “The windows here are huge, it might bring attention to us if someone sees the lights come on.”

Soonyoung groaned at this. “Let’s just go upstairs and get this over with.”

They proceeded carefully up the spiraling flight of stairs, making their way towards the left side of the second floor, near the spot they singled out on the map. They weaved around the tall bookshelves until Jihoon heard a noise from across the room, stopping dead in his tracks. He turned towards the source of the sound.

“What is it?” Soonyoung asked.

Jihoon brought a finger to his lips while he stared down the aisles. The movement of a shadow caught his eye, dread bubbling in the pit of his stomach.

“Move that way,” he mouthed to Soonyoung, pointing towards the direction of the door. Soonyoung obliged, and Jihoon walked down the aisles of the bookshelves, hand settled on the handle of the blade he hid under his shirt. He saw the shadow moving again, and this time the faint sound of steps hitting the floor. He moved carefully to follow it, eyes darting around him in all directions to avoid blind attacks. The longer he spent chasing the shadow, the louder the steps became, and the more frantically he tried to keep up with its movements.

He came to a halt at the corner of an aisle, hearing the drumming footsteps approaching fast. He drew his blade slowly from his waistband, heart hammering in anticipation. As soon as he heard the steps behind him, he jumped the corner ready to attack. Instead, he ran face first into Soonyoung’s chest, stunned backwards by the impact and almost dropping the knife.

“Shit,” Jihoon hissed, as Soonyoung placed his hands on his shoulders in an attempt to steady him. The clacking sound of the other person’s heels began ringing through the aisles again, this time much farther, and Soonyoung’s grip on Jihoon’s shoulders tightened.

“They’re getting away!” Soonyoung cried, taking off after them.

“Soonyoung, wait—” Despite Jihoon’s protests, he kept running desperately, chasing the figure down the stairs. Jihoon followed, trying his best to put away the knife once more while keeping up with Soonyoung’s speed. Soonyoung even went so far as to jump over the railing of the stairs to try to catch them bolting out of the library. Jihoon groaned, moving as fast as his legs could take him.

Once outside, Jihoon finally caught up with a frantic looking Soonyoung, staring between the three halls in front of them. Jihoon tried to quiet his jagged breaths enough to listen for any movement. He soon heard the heels hitting the smooth tile as they ran down the longest hall to their right, looking up to find someone running towards the end of the hall.

“There,” Jihoon motioned with a point. Soonyoung ran off before he could react. He struggled to keep up with him once again, feeling lightheaded and short of breath as he continued to run. Before he could turn the corner of the hall he heard a door prop open, and moments later it was forcefully thrown open again, presumably by Soonyoung’s hot chase. Jihoon pushed through it himself soon after, finding himself at a side exit to the shared gardens of the palace and the training grounds.

The wind had picked up from the gentle breeze earlier, shaking the trees around them menacingly. They were both completely still, Jihoon staring at Soonyoung, who had a piercing look in his eyes as he looked out onto the rest of the garden.

“I lost them,” Soonyoung said, frustration evident in his tone. He turned around and slammed his fist into the wall. “Dammit! I was so close!”

“Soonyoung, it’s okay,” Jihoon reassured him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s just look around, we might find something else.”

“Yeah,” Soonyoung said in response, running a hand through his hair in frustration. They began walking around the tight paths of the garden, not straying too far from each other. Jihoon noticed a small break in the trees, following the path for a bit before he tripped on something hard, almost landing face first in the gravel.

“Jesus Christ,” Jihoon groaned, looking at the offending object. “Who the hell leaves a manhole cover in the middle of the—”

Jihoon froze in place, because when he tripped, he accidentally turned the cover over partway from the stand it was propped on, revealing a different symbol on its opposite side. There was an image of a bird engraved on it, wings engulfed by flames. A crest he had definitely seen elsewhere before.

“Are you okay?” Soonyoung asked, approaching the area where Jihoon was standing still.

“Look,” Jihoon said simply, pointing at the metal cover. Jihoon looked over at Soonyoung as his eyes widened before they both looked over at the exposed hole in the ground, lowering his trembling hand.

The symbol of Phoenix.

“What do you think is down there?” Soonyoung asked, hesitant.

“I don’t know, but I guess we should look,” Jihoon said. He leaned over reluctantly, ready to look into the manhole, when the lights in the building behind them surged in a blinding flash all at once, and the lights from the palace dimmed into complete darkness.

Jihoon physically recoiled at this. “What the hell was that?”

“I don’t know, but it doesn’t look good, especially for Junhui’s party,” Soonyoung responded. The noises of shouts and complaints could be heard from where they sat in the garden.

Jihoon’s breath caught in his throat. “We have to go back immediately,” he said. “There could be danger, both here and at the masquerade.”

They sprinted to the palace, Jihoon feeling the anxiety spread through his body as they drew closer, afraid of what they would find. Soonyoung guided them towards the spot where they heard the most chatter, sneaking around some trees by the main entrance to the palace to join a large crowd of guests. When Soonyoung reached the front of the crowd, his whole body tensed, startling Jihoon. He stepped around him to look where his wide-eyed gaze was fixed on the ground. He gasped.

Written in menacing red paint on the wide stone path of the palace’s entrance were the words:

_WE WILL BE BACK FOR YOU._


	3. week 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOHOHOHOHO!!! surprise, i bet you thought you saw the last of this fic! it has been SEVEN LONG MONTHS since i last posted an update. honestly, work was taking a lot out of me, but now that things are better i have had way more energy for writing and getting this fic through the last of its chapters. there was a lot of smoothing out the more complicated parts of the plot that i had to work through, but now i am satisfied to keep powering through to the end! i honestly can't say when the next update for it will be, but just like last time, i promise i won't leave it hanging!! i really, really love this au and have a lot of plans for it. and honestly, the amount of lovely, thoughtful comments i have received are my biggest motivation to keep going bc i don't want to abandon you guys TTTTTTT the next chapter will definitely be the last, and i'm still toying with the idea of posting an epilogue separately or as an extra chapter, but you can expect one of those, as well. ANYWAY, i hope you enjoy this update that took a LOOOOOT of thought, effort and love! ♡

“So, let me get this straight,” Commander Jiyoung began, hands folded in front of her face. “During the time of the incident, you left the premises. And you went...where?”

Jihoon sighed. Of all the places he could be right now, he really didn’t want to be in the Commander’s office. He especially didn’t want to be interrogated for something that he was certain was meant to threaten him, let alone something in which he had no part. But he had to choose his words carefully to avoid bringing any actual suspicion to Soonyoung and himself—which involved lying. “Soonyoung and I came back here, to the academy. I wanted to get something from my room, so he accompanied me.”

“Uh huh.” Jiyoung leaned forward. “Then, care to tell me why Prince Soonyoung told me you two were in the garden?”

Jihoon stiffened. _The idiot_. He really regretted not coming up with a cover beforehand, but their presence in the Commander’s office was requested rather suddenly. He was thankful that they both at least had half a mind to bend the truth to their advantage. “We did both. We went to my room first, then made our way back outside and spent some time in the garden until we heard the commotion by the front of the palace.”

Jiyoung narrowed her eyes at him, unconvinced. “And you were in the gardens because…?”

“Soonyoung and I have spent some time there outside of our training. I find it rather difficult to blend into grand festivities like Prince Jun’s a few nights ago, so I went there to find some peace and quiet and he was kind enough to join me.”

Jiyoung gave Jihoon a prolonged glare before letting out a sigh. “Fine. I guess you really don’t know anything.”

“If I did, I would inform you right away,” Jihoon said with sincerity. “This is quite the frightening threat.”

“Yes, it seems like we’ll have to double down on security,” Jiyoung said, mostly to herself. “In any case, thank you for your time, Jihoon. Any information is helpful.”

“You’re most welcome.” He sat in contemplation in the chair across from the Commander’s desk for a moment, chewing on his lip as he tried to find the right words. He decided to speak up before he lost his confidence.

“If I may ask you a question, Commander.”

Jiyoung looked up from the files on her desk that were already distracting her. “What is it?”

“With all due respect,” Jihoon began nervously, “why are you overseeing part of this investigation? I thought you were only responsible for Soonyoung and myself, and our training.”

Jiyoung stilled, setting the files down on her desk. “Excuse me?”

Jihoon stiffened. The menacing bite in her tone was unquestionable.

“I was just wondering,” he continued, “since it seems like there would be someone more appropriate for this investigation. Like someone in the royal court, for example. Or a police force.”

Jiyoung’s jaw visibly clenched. Jihoon regretted asking anything at all. Then, to his horror, she let out a chuckle.

“Jihoon.” Jiyoung said, smiling. She wasn’t even trying to hide the venom in her voice. “I thought you to be a smart boy, having spent enough time near your own family’s royal court to know how these things work.” She dropped the smile, looking him straight in the eyes. “Perhaps you have forgotten my rank as a Commander on the interplanetary forces, as well. As the person overseeing this training program, and as someone with such a high rank, I have my own responsibilities to the royal family when a threat is placed upon them. They have their own investigation, but I am merely fulfilling my own duties to them. You understand, right?”

Jihoon clenched his hand on his lap into a fist at her patronizing tone. “Yes, Commander.”

“Good.” Jiyoung tensed. “Plus, if getting to the bottom of this means finding out who has been taking documents from my office, I have no problem investigating.”

Jihoon felt his heart jump uncomfortably in his chest. “What…?”

Jiyoung breathed out through her nose. “I apologize. You didn’t need to hear that.” She began straightening out the files on her desk. “I hope I answered your question. You are dismissed now, Jihoon.”

He hurried out of her office before there was a chance for him to expose himself further.

* * *

 He wasn’t exactly sure why, but after he left, Jihoon found himself standing in front of the door to the music room. He intended to return to his room, but as he turned the handle, he realized being alone with his thoughts was probably not the best idea. He already felt suffocated walking down the halls and away from the office, he was certain lying face down in bed would not be any better. He needed something calming. A distraction.

He smiled as he entered, warm light of the low sun welcoming him. He didn’t necessarily have any intention of playing, but his fingers lingered over the keys of the piano nonetheless, finding comfort in their familiar smoothness.

“Hey,” came a soft voice from the entrance. Jihoon turned to find Soonyoung leaning against the doorframe, and he shot him a small smile before staring down at the keys again.

“Hey,” he responded back, feeling Soonyoung’s presence closing in behind him. Soonyoung leaned against the side of the piano, giving Jihoon an inquisitive look.

“How’d the meeting with the Commander go?”

Jihoon winced. “There’s been better.”

“Oh?”

“I...may have pushed her buttons. She got a bit upset with me.” Jihoon ran his fingers down the length of the keys, not missing how Soonyoung’s eyes were following them. “I also had to lie to cover our asses, since our stories didn’t match up well.”

“Yeah, I was afraid that might happen.” Soonyoung crossed his arms, looking out the large window of the music room. “We didn’t have much time to think of an alibi…”

“She thinks they’re after Junhui, and mentioned that she noticed some files missing from her office,” Jihoon said, biting his lip. Soonyoung turned to look at him now, shock and concern on his face. Before he could say anything, Jihoon continued. “She also kind of insulted my...um...experience as a prince. Insinuated I didn’t know anything. That I’m completely clueless.”

Soonyoung’s eyes were scanning Jihoon’s face, his expression tainted with worry. “Jihoon…”

“What if she’s right, Soonyoung?” Jihoon balled his hand on the piano keys into a fist. “What if I’m sticking my head where it doesn’t belong? I could be leading us down the wrong path, and just putting us in danger for no reason.”

“There’s no way,” Soonyoung said, frantic eyes betraying his quiet voice. “We were targeted. You saw how those things came after us.”

“We could have just been targeted by accident.” Jihoon trailed off, fist loosening. “Maybe I really do have no idea what I’m doing. Maybe I never will be good enough as a prince.”

Soonyoung fell silent. Jihoon thought he was weighing his words, but then his hand gripped the side of the piano, knuckles whitening.

“I refuse to believe that,” Soonyoung said quietly as he faced Jihoon. “Sure, you might not have the same experience as someone who was raised as a prince, but you have all the makings of one. You have the consideration and protective spirit, yet your approach is totally different. No other prince would think of doing all the things you’ve done so far to make sure we're safe. No other prince would sneak into the academy and steal a bunch of papers from the commander’s office to find out more about the organization hunting us down." He smiled. "That's really special.”

Jihoon looked away, rendered speechless by Soonyoung’s compliments.

“To be fair, the first time I stole the papers it was your idea,” he finally said with a frown.

Soonyoung let out a laugh. “Right. That’s why you have to leave all the reckless stuff to me. If both of us are being dumb, we could both be out of commission and we might never figure out what’s after us.”

Jihoon glowered at him. “I think it’s only fair if I take some risks of my own if the person who usually does take risks is prone to injury.” His lips turned upwards. “But at least you admit that you’re dumb.”

“Hey!” Soonyoung shoved Jihoon lightly as he burst into a laugh, which Soonyoung soon followed. He brought his arm up now, chin propped in his arm as he leaned on the piano. “Anyway, I told you I’m fine! I’m healing well, and I’ll be back to normal in no time.” He leaned his face into his palm, smiling warmly at Jihoon. “Now, are you going to play something for me?”

Jihoon’s entire body stiffened with such a jolt his fingers nearly slammed down on the keys where they were resting on the piano. “What?”

“Well, why do you think I came in here? You were going to play something, right? I want to hear.”

Jihoon opened his mouth to speak, words failing him as the heat rose up his neck to his face. “I actually wasn’t, I just found myself here because I was stressed. But...if you want me to play something, I can?”

“Well, since you offered so nicely,” Soonyoung said, eyes disappearing behind his playful smile.

Jihoon sat at the piano, fingers hovering awkwardly. “I don’t know what to play.”

“Anything,” Soonyoung responded. “I’m sure whatever it is will be lovely.”

Jihoon’s fingers curled at the words, trying not to let his embarrassment get the best of him. He finally decided on a piece, one of his favorites, and the tension left him entirely as his fingers glided along the keys.

Though the piece was difficult to play from memory, Jihoon was glad he chose it, stealing glances at Soonyoung occasionally. It was a rather powerful and passionate piece, with many highs and lows that Jihoon always had trouble grasping properly. Soonyoung, however, was listening intently with his eyes closed and a content smile on his lips, the warm light of the sun casting a soft glow against his skin, his dark hair looking like it was sparkling. The sight made Jihoon’s chest constrict, like someone was gripping firmly at his heart with all of their strength. He wanted to escape, but he couldn’t, so instead he let the crushing feeling in his heart come out through his song, his fingers coming down powerfully on the keys like they were speaking for him.

There was no point in pretending anymore.

Jihoon had known it for awhile, the fluttering feeling in his gut undeniable when he heard Soonyoung’s laugh, or felt his soft gaze, or when he whined his name because Jihoon was being tough on him during their study sessions. He thought if he ignored it, it could go away. It was probably meaningless, he thought, a product of the time they spent together, getting to know him better and how open and clingy and kind he was, and the secrets only the two of them knew. Jihoon had always approached things in a logical manner, of course he was reacting this way, he needed someone to depend on.

But the more he pushed it away, the more it came back to grip at him, like a monster that couldn’t be tamed. Everything hit him stronger the more he avoided it, until the shortest of brushing touches felt like a scorching burn, and any conversation with Soonyoung outside of their training and Phoenix left a lump in his throat, the weight of his unspoken feelings crushing every fiber of his being. The realization crashed on him late one night, when Soonyoung invited him to sneak into the kitchen to make food because he was hungry. He laughed as Soonyoung helplessly fiddled with the ingredients in the large fridge, nearly falling off where he was seated on the counter at a strange condiment exploding all over Soonyoung’s sandwich and his face. The bliss he felt at that moment was unmatched, wishing he could stay trapped in this scene forever, just him and Soonyoung and the laughter between the two of them and the quiet of the rest of the world. Jihoon’s heart sank as soon as he felt it soaring.

He hadn’t ever been one for indulgences.

He put his energy into whatever else he could think of. Studying. Research. Physical training. Dwelling on his feelings was a distraction, he thought, and he had no time to waste mulling over foolish things like that. His biggest concern was protecting Soonyoung (and himself). _That’s right_ , he’d think, _if you really do care about him this much, you should try your hardest to protect him and get to the bottom of this_.

And so he did. His training and research became not only a distraction, but a necessity. If he couldn’t express his feelings properly to Soonyoung, he would at least do everything in his power to keep him safe. For now, that was enough.

As if to mock him, a knock came on his door one evening while he was in the middle of one of his internal battles, spacing out while trying to read a book on the political history of the solar system. He almost jumped in shock when he opened the door to see a somber looking Soonyoung standing right outside his room.

“Soonyoung?” Jihoon said, moving out of the way to let him into the room. “Is everything alright?”

As soon as Jihoon closed the door behind him, Soonyoung began pulling his shirt over his head. Jihoon froze instantly, his throat dry in a panic, every inch of his skin feeling like it was on fire.

“W-what are you—” he sputtered, but he was cut off when Soonyoung turned around and showed his bare back to him. Jihoon let out a strangled gasp, and it was like the world stopped moving.

Stemming from the spot where he was stabbed on his shoulder, a black, ink-like pattern spread across Soonyoung’s skin. It fanned out to his spine, up his neck, and onto his arm like a sickening flame. Jihoon’s hands were covering his mouth in an attempt to silence his jagged breathing, staggering backwards until he hit the door. “No,” he let out, barely above a whisper.

“Looks bad, right?” Soonyoung looked over his shoulder at Jihoon. “I only noticed it because Minghao said it looked like there was something weird on my neck, so I freaked out and went to check it out. When I saw this, well...it didn’t help how much I was panicking. I only calmed down enough a little bit ago to come show you.”

The sound of Soonyoung’s voice pulled Jihoon out of his stupor. He moved forward, touching the black on his skin, gently, like it could burn him. “What do we do…?”

“I don’t know,” Soonyoung said lowly. “I was kind of hoping you would have an answer.”

Jihoon tried his best to steady his breathing. “I’ve never seen anything like it before,” he began. “I don’t think it’s a reaction to the treatment I gave you, and it definitely doesn’t look like an infection.” He ran his fingers over the dark flesh, noticing it was smooth like normal. “Does it hurt at all?”

“Not always,” Soonyoung said. “But sometimes, the pain comes in a flash. At first it was just kind of dull, but it’s been getting a bit stronger. I didn’t think much of it at first, but…”

Jihoon stared at Soonyoung’s shoulder in thought, rattling his mind for any ideas. In an instant, it dawned on him, and dread washed over him.

“Don’t move,” Jihoon said, straightening out with feigned confidence. “I’ll be right back.”

He peered into the clinic, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw it was dark and unoccupied. He entered and tried his best to clear his mind and pick out the few herbs and mixes Eunwoo had brought up while complaining about Jiyoung’s officers.

 _Those stupid old ladies!_ he heard Eunwoo say in the back of his mind. _They think I’m not smart enough to realize they’re trying to get me to make them a base for poison! I can make the antidote too if I know what’s going into it, you know. There’s a reason I’m this academy’s sole nurse!_

 _Poison_. Jihoon didn’t want to dwell on it, especially not on why Jiyoung’s officers were involved, but it was the only thing that made sense. With shaky hands, he grabbed whatever he deemed safe enough to give to Soonyoung and snuck out as quickly as possible, vowing to come back. He was trying to talk himself down from a full-blown panic attack the entire walk back, repeating to himself _It’s okay, he’ll be okay, you’ll both be okay_.

When he entered the room he saw Soonyoung sitting on his bed, still shirtless. Jihoon didn’t fail to notice how the black stain had spread enough to nip at his collarbone. With a determined silence he dropped the materials on his desk, and began mixing fervently. He felt Soonyoung’s eyes trained on him, watching his every move intently, but he continued on.

“Jihoon?” Soonyoung attempted, softly.

Jihoon was silent.

“It’s poison, isn’t it?”

Jihoon stilled for a split second before finishing the elixir in the small glass. Soonyoung stared at him expectantly, mouth hanging open in concern, but instead he shoved the glass at him with such force a bit of the concoction spilled out.

“Drink,” he commanded softly. Soonyoung blinked at him in surprise but did as he was told, Jihoon avoiding his eyes by looking at a spot on the floor. “That should...stop anything in your bloodstream from spreading further.”

“So it is poison.” Soonyoung set the glass down on the side of Jihoon’s bed, hand curling around his knee. “That’s what I was afraid of.”

“I can’t say for sure yet,” Jihoon said. “But it’s likely. It seems like the most reasonable explanation, especially for the way the marking is spreading under your skin.”

“I’ve kind of had a feeling since the day of the attack, you know. I’ve been grazed by way too many blades, and that hurt way more than usual, even for such a deep cut.” Jihoon’s eyes widened for a moment, and Soonyoung let out a quiet laugh. “Sorry, didn’t mean to get all dark about my training days for a second there.”

Jihoon’s jaw tensed. “The good news is that at least whatever I used to treat your wound seemed to slow down the spreading of the poison. It probably works off of infections, which was killed pretty fast. But still…” He pressed his lips into a tight line. “How did I not see this coming…”

“It’s fine, Jihoon. For the most part, I feel perfectly normal. I don’t think it’s anything we should worry about too much.”

“But we don’t know what this is,” Jihoon began. He felt tears prickling at the corners of his eyes. “We don’t know what kind it is, and what it can do to you, or why it’s not really hurting you. We’re on an invisible clock now, Soonyoung. We don’t know how long we have until it starts to cause real pain, or worse, until it—”

The words caught in Jihoon’s throat, and he looked away again, pressing his hand to his eyes to cover the tears that were now welling and threatening to pour out. A few moments later he felt a warmth against him and a hand behind his head, Soonyoung cradling him against his abdomen.

“Hey, relax,” came Soonyoung’s voice softly, running his fingers through Jihoon’s hair. “It’s gonna be okay. Don’t worry.”

“How could I not?” Jihoon said with a shaky breath. “It doesn’t matter how much progress we make, something always comes up that makes our situation so much worse. How are you so calm?”

“I have no choice but to be calm,” Soonyoung responded. “Trust me, I’m scared, too. You know that. But freaking out won’t do much for me.”

Jihoon let out a choked laugh. “I don’t know how you do it. You’re the one who probably has something slowly killing you in your body, and you have to calm me down.” He dabbed his eyes with the back of his fingers. “I’m sorry you have to keep doing this.”

“It’s okay. That’s what I’m here for.” Soonyoung looked down at him with the warmest smile, and for a moment, Jihoon really did feel like everything was going to be okay. With newfound determination, he pushed himself away from Soonyoung and got up off the chair.

“Sit down. I’m going to try to treat your wound now.”

With his materials splayed out on the bed and Soonyoung’s front leaning against the back of the chair, Jihoon carefully dabbed various ointments and treatments into the spot where Soonyoung’s skin was opened. It was completely closed now, starting to scar over, but Jihoon hoped any direct treatment could kill whatever had been shoved into him at the point of contact. After awhile, his treatment slowed, eyes grazing over his broad shoulders and back. He caught sight of a few other minor scars across them, visible scratches and indentations in his skin. He thoughtlessly ran his fingers over them.

“These scars…” Jihoon trailed off. Soonyoung’s earlier words echoed in his head. “Are these all from your training?”

“Basically,” Soonyoung said with a bitter laugh. “It was really intense training. Putting me through suffering to know the suffering of others kind of deal. There was a lot of blood. And a lot of crying, but let’s not talk about that.”

Jihoon’s face fell in concern. “Soonyoung…”

“Hey! It is what it is. It’s always been like that on Mars for the royal family, especially since our people are known for their combat and all that. To toughen you up. I’m sure you went through something similar.”

Jihoon thought back to his own difficulties with training, though most of them were thanks to his own misgivings. “It was hard, but nowhere nearly as cruel.” Soonyoung flinched at the word. “You went through all this, and yet...how did you manage to end up so kind…?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Soonyoung turned around in his chair. “Lee Jihoon? Menacing ice prince of Mercury? Calling me _kind_? This is one for the books.”

Jihoon punched him in the side a little too forcefully, causing Soonyoung to fall back in the chair with an _oof_. But his delighted expression never faltered.

“Wow, Jihoon, you just made me so happy! I can’t believe you called me _kind_. You really think that? For real?”

“Yes, you dumbwit,” Jihoon responded, resuming his treatment by starting to bandage Soonyoung’s shoulder. “After everything you have done for me since I got here, how could I not?”

Soonyoung hummed in thought. “But you know, Jihoon,” he began quietly, “you’re really kind, too. All the effort you make to look out for me, protect me, even how you’re caring for my wounds right now. I didn’t expect it, but I really like this caring side of you.”

Jihoon stilled, Soonyoung’s confession making his limbs feel like they were jello. Soonyoung leaned his head against the back of the chair, smiling at Jihoon, only making it worse.

“Um, thanks,” Jihoon managed. “Don’t get used to it.” He tossed Soonyoung’s shirt at him, landing right on his face. “Now put that back on, since I’m all done. I don’t want to look at that...thing anymore. It’s upsetting.”

Soonyoung’s smile only got wider as he did what he was told while Jihoon took the tools from Eunwoo’s lab into his bathroom to clean up. In the span of the few minutes it took him to wash everything off, Soonyoung had already made himself comfortable on Jihoon’s bed.

“Hey!” Jihoon scowled. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Nothing,” Soonyoung sang.

“I don’t think so. It sure looks like something, particularly something I will _not_ let you do.”

“I’m just tired, and your bed is so much comfier than mine,” Soonyoung protested.

“We have the same exact bed!”

“No we don’t! I swear! This one is nicer! Just let me lie down for a bit, please?”

“Fine,” Jihoon scoffed. “But you are not spending the night here. I will not hesitate to kick you off this bed and onto the floor if you fall asleep. Got it?”

“Uh huh,” Soonyoung responded, eyes fluttering closed as he slid into Jihoon’s sheets further. Jihoon rolled his eyes as he opened the door to go return all the materials to the lab.

“I mean it, Soonyoung. I’m going to be back in a few minutes, and you better not be asleep, for your own sake.”

Of course, when he returned, Soonyoung was already fast asleep, snoring softly every so often. Jihoon groaned, staring at his peaceful sleeping form, and the way that he winced when he moved his arm. He stood watching him in contemplation for far too long before heaving out a sigh, turning off the lights and trying his best to slot himself in the bed around Soonyoung’s sleeping form.

“Stupid idiot,” he whispered, looking up at his sleeping face, cheeks flushing a bit at their proximity. “How could I say no?”

Jihoon closed his eyes, letting the comforting warmth of Soonyoung’s body and the sound of his breathing lull him to sleep.

* * *

Soft grass and warm sun. That was the first thing Jihoon felt when he came to, staring up at a clear blue sky with a few clouds floating along slowly. He breathed in, crisp air filling his lungs, and the familiarness of it all made his heart skip a beat. He jerked up, anxiety and anticipation mixing uncomfortably in his chest.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a small building, and he turned his head towards it, the sight of the familiar brick and tile instantly slamming him with a wave of emotions. The smoke coming out of the chimney, the sounds coming from the kitchen’s open window, the rolling hills in the background. It seemed to good to be true.

“I’m...home?”

“Jihoon!” A familiar voice called, and he froze. No, this voice didn’t belong here. But he still turned to its source, seeing Soonyoung standing with his hands on his hips atop a hill, wide smile on his face.

“Soonyoung?” Jihoon questioned. He thought he heard Seokmin and Seungkwan’s laughter and yells from beyond where Soonyoung was standing. How was this possible?

“Don’t just sit there like a bum! I know you want to laze away and soak up the sun, but come on!” Soonyoung held out a hand to Jihoon, his other hand on his knee supporting his weight as he leaned over.

Jihoon stood up and dusted off his pants, staring at Soonyoung. He gave one last glance at his house, his home, wanting to run inside and check on his grandmother and his room and everything that he remembered, but he instead approached Soonyoung with a brisk walk, approaching a run as he made his way up the hill. He stopped a few feet away from Soonyoung, taking in the sight of him. His hair was blowing gently with the wind and he had a dazzling smile on his face, looking more relaxed than ever. He looked like a dream.

He must have said that out loud, because Soonyoung laughed out loud. “This definitely isn’t a dream,” he said, holding out his hand once more. Jihoon reached out, fingers barely grazing until he was close enough to firmly clasp their hands together, looking up to Soonyoung with a smile.

But the instant his hand latched onto the other’s, a horrible black stain began travelling up Soonyoung’s skin from his palm, to his arm, until it reached his chest and face. His expression was twisted in one of horror and shock, Jihoon releasing his hand with a jolt as it spread across his entire body, causing him to double over into himself as he fell to the ground. Jihoon backed away, watching the sky turn black, the rich green of the hills turn dark, everything around him fade into nothing, until he was standing by himself in a void of darkness.

He tried to steady his breathing as much as possible, looking all around him until he noticed there was one thing that was not consumed by the darkness—his house. With shaking feet he approached it, opening the door cautiously. The bright light from the television illuminated the living room, static buzz humming in his ear. There were no signs of life, except for the tea kettle that was starting to hiss on the stove. Too scared to touch anything, he walked past it, entering the hallway that led to his childhood room.

He pushed the door open, and everything was just like he remembered the day he left it. Untouched. His fingers grazed over the quilt on his bed. It somehow only made him feel more empty and scared.

He caught a glance of his reflection from the mirror leaning against the wall, only doing a double take when he realized there was nothing else reflected back except his own image. He stared at the reflection in horror, approaching slowly to examine himself. He looked up absentmindedly to meet his own gaze and that’s when he finally saw it—lifeless, sinister glowing pupils staring back at him, expression twisted in anger, nothing like the look of fear he felt painting his face. He jerked back with a gasp, almost falling to his feet, feeling like the ground had opened beneath him.

His eyes flew open, chest releasing its heavy, uncomfortable weight with every baited breath he took. He struggled to keep his eyes open, too afraid of the nightmares returning as he tried to steady his heart’s erratic beating.

 _That’s right_ , he thought to himself. _Of course it wasn’t a dream. It was a nightmare_. But Jihoon knew this one was different from all the others he had been having, far too vivid and realistic. He could still feel Soonyoung’s warmth on his hand, around his waist, enveloping him—but wait, that never happened in the dream, he was—

 _Oh yeah_. Soonyoung had fallen asleep in his bed last night, and like the kind and very foolish soul that he was, he let him stay. And apparently, he stayed the whole night, because the wall in front of him was definitely not the wall of his bedroom, but Soonyoung’s chest, moving up and down steadily in his sleep as an arm was lazily draped on his side. Jihoon’s heartbeat increased again, this time nothing to do with his nightmares and everything to do with the man that was mere inches from him. Jihoon did his best to look up at his sleeping face, mouth hanging open. He instantly hated how endearing he found it, turning around in a huff as the heat that had started to spread through his entire body reached his face.

Soonyoung’s arm stayed wrapped around him as he stared at his door, lying awake in a panic. Soonyoung was in his bed, this close to him, and he was _definitely_ going to wake up soon because they had class in an hour and they both needed to get ready and have something to eat and Jihoon still wanted to look over some material and it was going to be a long day and he—

The hand resting on his stomach was pressing into him now, pushing him closer to Soonyoung as he stirred with a groan.

“Mm, you okay? I can pretty much hear you freaking out.”

Soonyoung’s voice was groggy and husky, rough from just waking up. It made Jihoon even more tense. “It’s nothing,” he managed, shocked at how steady and clear it came out.

There was a moment of silence before Soonyoung spoke again, quieter this time. “Bad dream?”

“Yeah. How’d you know?”

“Just did. You’ve been talking about them a lot, Jihoonie.” He felt Soonyoung shift closer to him.

“I told you not to call me that,” Jihoon tried to say with authority, but his voice finally betrayed him and it came out more like a shaky squeak.

“Oh? But you let me stay here last night when you said you’d kick me out, how can I trust anything you say?”

“Soonyoung…” Jihoon said, almost pleadingly. Soonyoung nuzzled his face into his hair as he let out a low laugh.

“You’re warm,” he said. Jihoon felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up at how close his voice was. He tried his best to relax into Soonyoung’s hold, because he was warm, too, and he didn’t know if he would ever be able to do this again. Soonyoung continued to nuzzle into Jihoon, now into the crook of his neck, the faint brush of his lips on his skin sending his mind haywire. He could afford to indulge himself a little bit, just this once, he thought, until Soonyoung stiffened around him.

Jihoon frowned, turning his head back slightly. “What’s wrong?”

“Um,” Soonyoung said, sounding much more alert. “Is there something on the back of your neck?”

“What?” Jihoon jerked up into a sitting position, rubbing his nape as Soonyoung looked at him in concern. He was right—it felt like there was a slight protrusion, something under his skin.

“I don’t know what that is.”

Soonyoung blinked at him in confusion as Jihoon met his eyes with a panic. “Huh? Really?”

“Yeah,” Jihoon answered, hand tensing around the back of his neck. “I don’t know how it got there.”

Soonyoung sat up now, propped on his elbow as his brows furrowed together, Jihoon repeatedly touching the mysterious object on his neck. They stared at each other in silent concern, trying not to voice their fears.

This wasn’t good.

* * *

“Huh,” came Eunwoo’s voice from behind Jihoon. It was hard to stay still, anxious energy spread through his body the moment Eunwoo offered to check on his neck. He didn’t have plans for it, but she noticed him touching his hand to the back of it too often for comfort, and was insistent that he tell her what was wrong. The fact that her voice lacked any obvious reaction put Jihoon even more on edge.

“What is it?” he said carefully, curling and uncurling the fingers in his lap.

“As far as I’m concerned, nothing important,” she responded after expertly pressing her fingers around the area. It made Jihoon shift uncomfortably. “You sure you don’t know how it got there?”

“Yes, Eunwoo, I’m sure.” Jihoon turned to look at her, pensive expression on her face. “How could I not be aware of something sticking out from under my skin?”

“I don’t know. Maybe your parents put some kind of tracking device on you and forgot?” The thought sent a shiver through Jihoon. “Either way, we’ll keep an eye on it. Let me know if anything else comes up, okay?”

Jihoon heaved out a sigh. “I will.” He watched as she quietly returned to her work, oddly silent.

“You know, Jihoon,” she began, “By anything, I don’t just mean this. I mean absolutely anything.”

Jihoon raised an eyebrow in her direction. “Okay…?”

“LIke, I don’t know,” Eunwoo continued, not looking up at him, “Using my equipment and lab at night.”

The blood drained from Jihoon’s face at the mention, Eunwoo’s lips cocking up slightly as she spared him a knowing glance. “You were trying to make the antidote I was complaining about the other day, weren’t you? I don’t know what you need it for, but I made one myself, if you’d like to take it. It’s sitting at the end of the table on your side.”

Jihoon glossed over the contents of the messy working table and noticed the bottled liquid, glowing slightly, indicating Eunwoo had infused the medicine with her powers. He grabbed it and gripped it tightly to his chest, afraid it might shatter from how hard he was clutching onto it in hope.

“Thank you so much, Eunwoo,” Jihoon breathed out before rushing out of the lab. Jihoon barely had time to take in her alarm at the intensity of his gratitude.

* * *

“Soonyoung isn’t coming today,” came Wonwoo’s voice as Jihoon entered the library. He was prepared to pay little to no mind to him on his way to his typical table with Soonyoung, but he was sneering at him, knowing smile on his face. Jihoon paused, giving him a confused glance.

“Huh?”

“I passed by him on my way back from the dining hall. He said to let you know he wasn’t feeling well so he had to miss out on today’s study session.”

Jihoon’s brow furrowed in concern. _His shoulder_ , he thought. He wondered if the pain had flared up again like Soonyoung had described the night before. He bit his lip, trying not to let the worry spread on his face.

“Ah, Soonyoung was right,” Wonwoo said. Jihoon cocked a brow at him. “He said you would be worried if I told you that, so he also wanted me to let you know not to worry. He said, and I quote, ‘I’m just being careful, which is exactly what he wants me to do, so don’t let him keep that cute concerned look on his face for too long!’” Wonwoo snickered. “Don’t know if he wanted me to repeat that last part, though.”

Jihoon’s eyes widened, face flushing a bit at Soonyoung’s brazen comment. He then let out an annoyed puff of breath. “The idiot,” Jihoon mumbled. “When Nayoung assigns him a huge pile of supplementary reading for not doing well on our quiz in a few days, we’ll see how careful he is.”

“You should have more confidence in him,” Wonwoo remarked. “He’s come in here quite a few times without you, believe it or not. To be fair, he’s usually looking for you, and half the time all he does is pester me about history and rope me into conversation, but I don’t think he’s doing half bad on his own.”

“You too?” Jihoon rolled his eyes. “Roping you into conversation _is_ his specialty, I suppose.”

“Just cut the act, Jihoon,” Wonwoo responded, causing Jihoon to freeze. “You and I both know he’s a really nice guy. He talks about you so much, and usually he’s just saying how he doesn’t know how to handle everything you do for him. I can see why you guys are so close, you compliment each other really well.”

“Close?” Jihoon blinked. “Does it really seem like we’re that close?”

“Of course,” Wonwoo replied, like it was the most obvious thing in the universe. “Haven’t you guys been friends for a long time?”

“Not at all,” Jihoon answered. “We really only were on good terms after joining this program. We hated each other for most of the time that we’ve known each other, actually.”

“Oh? You two are stuck to each other like glue, so I never would have guessed,” Wonwoo said, punctuating his sentence with a sly grin. Jihoon immediately looked away, trying to hide the warmth he felt rising in his cheeks. Wonwoo’s mockery didn’t last for very long, however, when the doors to the library burst open and he straightened out like a pin.

“Prince Junhui? What are you doing here?” Jihoon said when he turned to see their guest, shooting Wonwoo the same smug look that was on the other’s face just moments ago. It was now replaced with a tight-lipped, slightly panicked stare.

“Well hello, Jihoon,” Junhui said, smile as polite as ever. “I have some information I’m curious about.” He turned to Wonwoo. “Wonwoo, if you could show me to the private research room?”

“Of course,” Wonwoo responded in a shaky voice, stepping out from his spot at the front desk. They began walking away from Jihoon when Junhui turned around and said, “You are welcome to come with us, Jihoon,” and Jihoon didn’t know what to do but accept Junhui’s invitation and scurry across the library to join them.

“There’s a private research room here?” Jihoon asked. “Is it accessible to anyone?”

“Not quite,” Junhui said. “It’s private because only specific personnel can enter. Like the royal family, the palace residents and staff and some people associated with the academy.” He gestured to Wonwoo. “Like those manning the library, of course, or someone overseeing the academy, like the Commander.”

“Huh.” Jihoon chewed his inner lip in thought. “So I couldn’t access it.”

“Usually, no,” Junhui began, smiling. “But since you’re with me today, you can. I can’t have you going and doing whatever you want in there, though, so please stick with us.” He tapped his index finger on Jihoon’s forehead, making Jihoon wince.

“Why is it private?” Jihoon asked. “I mean, what kind of material is in there?”

“A lot of confidential stuff,” Wonwoo responded. “Things like military records, incident reports not accessible to the public, information spread among top government officials.”

“Whoa,” Jihoon mumbled in awe. “And you can look at all that stuff too, Wonwoo?”

“It’s very important for the person guarding the information to understand what they are protecting,” Junhui said matter-of-factly.

“I have looked around a bit, but I honestly haven’t spent much time in the room...” Wonwoo admitted. “I’m kind of scared to know what I would find.”

“Perhaps it would benefit you to spend more time in there, Mr. Jeon,” Junhui chirped. Wonwoo’s shoulders went rigid at the name. “I hope you understand your place as a stronghold for Venus’ royal family.”

“Of course,” Wonwoo said, slinking into himself as he retrieved a set of keys from his pocket. They stopped in front of a door and Wonwoo unlocked it, allowing Junhui and Jihoon to step in before he closed the door behind the three of them.

The room was dark and small, with a single console in the middle that projected out onto the rest of the room in front of them. The console, absurdly enough, looked like a stand with an open book placed in the middle.

 _These Venusians and their lofty nonsense_ , Jihoon thought, watching Junhui input his information and pull up several databases with an intense look of concentration.

“You never mentioned what exactly you’re looking for,” Jihoon pointed out.

Junhui’s expression went dark.

“Jihoon,” he began. “Have you heard of Phoenix?”

Jihoon’s eyes almost bulged out of his head. He swallowed thickly, trying to seem as calm as possible. He didn’t miss the way Wonwoo’s eyes darted towards him before giving Junhui a concerned look.

“Prince…” Wonwoo began.

“It’s okay, Wonwoo,” Junhui assured. He looked at Jihoon, eyes demanding a response.

“Phoenix?” Jihoon repeated back, hoping it seemed innocent enough.

“They’re a rebel organization,” Junhui explained. He pulled up a few articles that seemed vaguely familiar to Jihoon—they must have been the ones he saw in the Commander’s desk. “They mainly target important members of the royal council or government officials on various planets of the solar system, or lead mass attacks on the planets and try to gain recruits.”

“Why do you bring them up?” Jihoon asks, eyes darting between Junhui and the information he brought up on the screen.

“I haven’t been able to rest since that bizarre incident at the party.” He scrolled through several entries—including one about an attack on Mars—before opening one about Venus from several years ago. He glanced over it and Jihoon did his best to absorb all the information on the screen. “I have my suspicions about what might be happening.”

“Haven’t they been inactive for several years, since that failed uprising?” Wonwoo asked.

“To our knowledge, yes,” Junhui responded. “But I’ve been hearing a bit of talk about them again recently. It doesn’t sit well with me.” Junhui browsed through more recent entries, but all that popped up wherever he looked was reports about a few small attacks that were suspected to be connected to them, rather than any solid information. Jihoon wondered why the first file he stole from the Commander’s desk was nowhere to be found. He also wanted to ask what the hell Wonwoo meant by failed uprising, but he didn’t dare mention anything.

“Hm.” Junhui stood back looking at everything he pulled up, eyes narrowing in concentration.

“Do you think they’re behind that creepy message from your party?” Wonwoo said.

“I think so,” Junhui said, hand still over his mouth in thought. “It reeks of their foul play. After all, Jihoon and Soonyoung are here, as well. They have plenty of reason to target us.” He gave Jihoon an apologetic look. “I guess we’ll just have to wait until the Commander and the police are done with their investigation to know for sure.”

It was relieving to hear Junhui’s concern for them, Jihoon thought, as Junhui began to close all his open files. But there was a question itching at the back of his throat.

“Junhui,” he started, “if this place is so important, why isn’t it at the castle?”

“This actually was formerly used as a military base,” Junhui explained, “before the solar system fell mostly into peace. Under my supervision it was converted into the lovely academy you see today. There was a lot of valuable information stored here, and because it would be quite difficult to transfer safely, my parents and I thought it would be best to keep it separate from the palace.”

“Huh. That explains the look of this place.” He spared a glance at Wonwoo, who was pulling the keys out of his pocket once more. “So that means there is always supervision for this area, even when nobody is really in the academy?”

“That’s right,” Junhui said. “The library, as well as the weapons area are almost always under constant surveillance. Wonwoo, Kyungwon, Mingyu and Minghao are more than just apprentices. They are carrying out important duties for the royal family.”

“I see.” He smirked at Wonwoo, who quickly looked back at his keys. “Must be an honor.”

“It sure is,” Wonwoo said as he led them out of the room. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to spend time in here and discover the remnants of its past. Did you know the library was the upper part of a bunker, Jihoon?”

Jihoon turned to him. “What?”

“Yeah, there’s a whole part of the old military base that’s underground, completely abandoned. Legend says there’s a secret passage somewhere in here that leads to the underground, but I have yet to find it.”

“Oh, there you go with your urban legends again,” Junhui complained. “I told you, that’s completely sealed off now! There’s no way to access it.”

“You don’t know that for sure!” Wonwoo shot back. While the two bickered, Jihoon felt the gears of his mind turning. He glanced over at the area where he and Soonyoung intended to inspect a few nights before, trying his best not to jump to conclusions.

_Just what lies beyond that passageway now?_

* * *

“Okay, that’s enough for now!” Yebin called out as Jihoon let out a deep breath. “Good work, Jihoon. Take a break before our next lesson begins.”

Jihoon collapsed on the mats of the gym floor as Yebin left to prepare for their real lesson. He knew laying on his back wouldn’t help him, but right now, after his strenuous extra strength training, the cool sensation against his back was welcome. He pressed his water bottle against his forehead, wondering if Soonyoung would show up to today’s lesson. Joshua had cancelled their morning lesson, and while he hadn’t heard anything out of the usual about Soonyoung, he hadn’t seen him around the academy all morning or afternoon, either. Normally, he wouldn’t think much of it; he’d probably just assume Soonyoung was being lazy and sleeping in. But after skipping their study session the evening before, Jihoon couldn’t help but worry. _Hopefully I’m worrying for nothing_ , he thought, cold bead of water dripping from his bottle down his temple.

“Tired out already?” came a voice above him, as if on cue. Jihoon opened his eyes to see Soonyoung kneeling over him, grinning expectantly. “Come on, Jihoonie, there’s no point in giving it your all for one training session if you can’t make it through the next one.”

Jihoon removed the water bottle from his forehead, arms splayed out by his sides as he closed his eyes again. “All I needed was a moment. We’re just getting started, right?”

“That’s what I like to hear!” Jihoon could practically hear the wide-toothed smile in Soonyoung’s voice. After a moment of silence, Jihoon looked up again to see Soonyoung stretching his hand out. “Help me stretch?”

After a few long gulps of his water and a decent amount of stretching, Yebin returned with some gear in tow. “Oh, wonderful, you’re already stretching! I hope you’re both ready for some sparring today.”

Jihoon frowned. “Sparring? Like...fighting?”

“Yes!” Yebin tossed the gear on the ground. “I know Minghao is usually responsible for combat, and I’m sure you do plenty of fighting with him, Soonyoung, but I figured it would be best for you two to receive some formal physical combat training from yours truly, as well.” She grinned, putting her hands on her hips. “Helps that it improves your overall physical strength, too.”

“This should be fun,” Soonyoung said. “I’ve heard plenty about your fighting style from Minghao. He seems to respect it a lot.”

Yebin barked out a laugh. “Let’s just say there’s a reason why he chose to stick to weapons and machinery.” She kicked the bag of gear towards the two. “Now suit up, boys!”

“Yebin, won’t you need to get some protective gear on, as well?” Jihoon asked.

“I appreciate your concern, but I’ll be just fine with my arm and leg wraps,” she announced, raising her fist triumphantly. “Anything else would just bog me down.”

As they put on the light gear Yebin explained the rules to them. “Anything from the shoulders down is fair game,” she began. “No roughhousing, either. If you try anything funny, I can assure you, you will regret it.” She glared at Soonyoung as she said the last part, who physically recoiled under her stare.

“You’re up, Prince of Mars! Let’s see what you’ve got.”

Jihoon watched as Soonyoung tried tirelessly to land a hit on Yebin, all of which were blocked. A few were met with angry scolding and Soonyoung crouching into himself in apology. Jihoon snickered delightfully at the sight. Eventually they grew accustomed to each other’s fighting style and she managed to coach Soonyoung through a few hits. Once he landed a surprise hit to her chest, she called the match, satisfied with his progress.

When it was Jihoon's turn to fight Yebin, he found himself moving with ease, thanks to their training right before their usual lesson. It was easy to predict her movements, though she often caught him by surprise and encouraged him to come at her harder. It didn't help that Soonyoung was on the sidelines letting out goofy cheers and hollers for Jihoon, sometimes followed by verbal attacks towards Yebin. It only made her attacks more forceful and full of vengeance. By the time they were done, Jihoon was winded.

“Good work, you two!” Yebin said, clapping her hands. “I can see you have both indeed been paying attention in mine and Minghao's lessons, and your physical condition is well. I'm proud.” She looked between them eagerly as Jihoon sat down beside Soonyoung, breathing hard.

“Now you two will go against each other.”

Jihoon froze. “What?”

“Scared, Jihoon?” Jihoon turned to Soonyoung, who was glancing at him with a smirk.

“You wish,” Jihoon scoffed. “You better not go easy on me, got it?”

“Likewise,” Soonyoung responded. There was a twinkle in his eye that Jihoon didn't quite understand, but he knew it was ticking him off.

“Alright, take a short break and get ready to fight after that,” Yebin announced, walking back to the gym’s office.

Jihoon took a sip of water from his bottle while he loosened the protective gear Yebin gave them, sticking uncomfortably to his skin.

“I was watching you carefully, Jihoon,” Soonyoung began. The fighting spirit of someone trained in combat was seeping out of him. “Don't think I wasn't paying attention to your movements. I know how you fight.”

Jihoon sniffed out a laugh. “You think you're the only one with that kind of eye? Today isn’t the first day I have taken note of your fighting style. I have since our first day at the academy. That hasn't escaped me.”

“Oh?” Soonyoung leaned in closer. “So you admit that you've been paying attention to me?”

Jihoon rolled his eyes, despite his efforts not to let his face flush at the accusation. “Is that a problem?”

Soonyoung beamed then. “No, not at all.”

It was true, however, that Jihoon had looked into the fighting styles of his companion and his instructors. Soonyoung’s style reflected the martial arts-like style of Mars, particularly those in the military and royal family. Yebin's was picturesque for someone from Jupiter; an all-rounder with a heavy influence from boxing. Minghao’s style was close enough to Soonyoung's, but it had branched off into its own style; which, Jihoon discovered, was because of his upbringing on Venus despite his home planet being Mars.

Jihoon had to wonder about his own style after he went through the effort to learn everyone else's. The type of combat he learned on Mercury was highly defensive, but he was privileged enough to have taken some private lessons in his time at the military academy from a former officer named Bumjoo. His style was a variety of many from his long time in the military, but he had honed in on Jihoon's keen sense of observation and developed his tactical skills and decision making. He never quite understood Bumjoo's dedication to his training, and at the time Jihoon only put his all into the training as a welcome distraction, but now he wondered if Bumjoo knew of the dangers that could come after Jihoon and his family at any moment. It terrified him, but he was thankful nonetheless.

As Yebin called off their break time and explained the rules of the sparring once again, Jihoon tensed. In watching Soonyoung's fighting and hearing about his rigorous training, he was, in fact, slightly afraid. It was one thing to watch him against someone who could match him—it was another to go up against it personally. Jihoon's mind was already whirring with strategies, and as they got into their starting stances, Soonyoung seemed to recognize it, lips cocking upwards.

“I'm excited to fight you,” Soonyoung admitted, snapping Jihoon out of his trance. “I've never been up against someone with your kind of skill.”

Jihoon blinked. “Huh?”

“And...start!”

Jihoon barely had time to think before Soonyoung lunged towards him, swift and elegant, concentration alarming. Jihoon's body moved on his own and he dodged and attempted a counter but Soonyoung blocked it, using his position to try to land a hit on Jihoon. He jumped backwards and tried to regain a stable stance but Soonyoung was coming at him again. It was all he could do to block and dodge his continuous attacks, trying every once in awhile to get in his own, only to have Soonyoung try to return it with twice the force.

Jihoon had barely even noticed the silence that had fallen over the room until he finally slipped away from Soonyoung's barrage of attacks and realized the sound of their short, jagged breaths mingling together was gone, and he only heard his own panting.

“Come on, Jihoon!” Soonyoung bellowed at him, coming out more like a growl. It startled Jihoon—was this the brutal training he spoke of finally coming out? “You haven't even landed one hit on me!”

“Neither have you,” Jihoon said, breathless.

“At least I'm trying,” Soonyoung responded, jabbing at him. He blocked it instantly, and they remained in that stance for awhile, staring each other down. “But damn, you're good. You really don't quit.”

“Same could be said for you,” Jihoon said with a smirk, shoving Soonyoung away from him. He could tell that Soonyoung allowed him to that time, matching his smug stare. “It's kind of annoying.”

“If it pisses you off so much, come at me!” Soonyoung opened his arms wide, like a taunt. “Give me all you've got!”

Jihoon breathed deeply through his nose, eyes trained on Soonyoung. With a practiced concentration he lurched forward, trying his best to land a hit on Soonyoung. It was his turn to block all of Jihoon's attacks, smirk never leaving his lips, only spurring Jihoon on further.

And then, in an instant, as if Jihoon was only a spectator in his own body, he saw himself grab Soonyoung's injured arm and twist it violently, scream echoing in his ears like it was miles away. He shoved him to the ground and he only came to his senses when he was on top of Soonyoung, pinning him to the ground as his face was twisted in pain and Yebin was yelling at him to stop.

Jihoon immediately scrambled off of him, heart racing in fear.

“I—” he began. “Soonyoung—”

Soonyoung didn't flinch at all at the call of his name, though, only grabbing his shoulder and bending into himself. Yebin ran to him and kneeled by his side, twisting him into an upright position and checking his vitals. Jihoon could only watch, as if he had no right to feel concern, helpless and confused.

He slipped away and left Yebin to clean up the mess, choosing instead to stand under the cold water of the the locker room showers. It numbed his skin and his thoughts. He hoped it would help him regain his composure. The scene replayed in his mind over and over, Soonyoung twisting and screaming in pain as he somehow couldn’t do anything about it. He opened and closed his fist just to make sure he still could, that he still had a grip on his mind and body. He didn’t understand.

He stayed in there until he heard Soonyoung return to gather his things. He hurried out of the shower and changed as quick as he could manage, hoping Soonyoung wouldn’t get too far ahead of him. He caught him in the hallway, glancing at each other nervously.

“Hey,” Soonyoung said, sad smile on his lips.

“Hey,” Jihoon answered back, avoiding his gaze. “I'm sorry. For...um...back there.”

“It's okay, Jihoon. Let's try to forget about it.”

“Just,” he started. “It wasn't me.”

“It's fine, really. I probably shouldn't have taunted you like that.”

“No, Soonyoung. You don't understand.” Jihoon looked down at his feet, starkly aware of the sensation of his toes moving in his shoes and his ability to feel them. “It was like it wasn’t me in my own body. Like I didn't have control of my movements.” He looked up at Soonyoung, who was staring at him in concern.

“Jihoon…” he began.

“Look, there was more I wanted to tell you.” He held out his hand, with the small vial Eunwoo gave him. “This is for you. For your shoulder.”

Soonyoung stared at it before taking it and bringing it close to his face. “It's...glowing?”

“It's from the nurse,” Jihoon explained. “Eunwoo. She made it when she realized I had taken her things and tried to make my own. Just promise me you're gonna use it, okay?”

“I will,” Soonyoung said. “But Jihoon, are you sure this is safe to use?

Jihoon cocked an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, are we sure we can trust her?”

Jihoon stiffened in horror before thinking back to her cautious eyes around the officers and her sweet demeanor when they were alone.

“How sure are you that we can trust Minghao?”

Soonyoung sucked in a breath. “Very,” he said with finality.

“Then we can trust her as well. I promise.”

* * *

Jihoon sat lifelessly at his desk, buzzing of his mind making up for the silence in his room. Nothing made sense anymore. The closer he got to learning about Phoenix, the more he realized he was miles away from the truth. And as if worrying about Soonyoung wasn’t bad enough, now his own behavior was a concern, as well. His chest felt like it was constricting and he couldn’t tell if it was because of worry or because of this new…thing taking over his body, but he supposed it didn’t matter if there was an invisible ticking time bomb strapped to his back now, too.

He stared at the books sitting by his head on Venus’ history. After hearing Wonwoo and Junhui discuss the former military base and Phoenix, he tried to look into it further, but only found one sentence about the old base that only provided as much information as the prince himself. It frustrated Jihoon, knowing that even the royal staff of Venus knew more about a solar system-wide threat than he did. Bitterly, he wondered if his brother had been given any intel on them. It wouldn’t be anything new.

It had been like that since they were young. Since before they arrived at the palace, even. Kihyun was the one trusted with the secrets and Jihoon was kept in the dark until he stumbled upon it himself or forced it out of someone. Jihoon only realized this after beginning their new lives, nearly perfectly adjusted until it came crashing down around him.

Kihyun had just come back from his swift and successful training period at the military academy. He was hailed as a prodigy, nailing his courses and moving ahead in record time, especially for someone who had been living outside of the walls of the palace. When asked about it upon his return, he shyly answered “I just wanted to hurry back.” Typical of his brother, Jihoon thought. Talented and humble to prying eyes.

They were sitting together in their shared study, Kihyun reading peacefully while Jihoon sat next to him thumbing through a notebook, jotting down ideas for a composition. Jihoon hadn’t seen his brother much since he had gotten back, busy with many public appearances and meetings. He frowned.

“I can’t believe you actually finished that intensive program in just a few months,” Jihoon said, eyeing his brother.

“I’m more surprised at how easy it was for me,” Kihyun answered, dog-earing the page. Their mother was trying to get him to stop since it damaged the books. “I thought I would struggle at the academy more than anything, since I’ve never been physically adept. But after a week I got used to it.”

Jihoon rolled his eyes. “Don’t pretend you wouldn’t always win whenever we used to wrestle as kids. I could barely beat you during tag.”

“That’s because you were so much smaller than me!”

“But still! You had such a strong grip, if you pinned me to the ground, it was over.”

“Yeah, because you were a slippery little rascal, and you were always so good at getting away,” Kihyun retorted, nudging Jihoon on the top of his head.

“I just have no idea how you managed to get used to everything so quickly,” Jihoon grumbled, setting his notebook aside. “I feel like I’ll never adjust. It’s already been so long, but I barely feel like I understand any of this.”

“Oh, Jihoon,” his brother said softly, turning his fist into a gentle caress of his head. “It will come to you soon. It’s not easy getting used to an entirely new life like this. We used to just be country boys, could you have ever imagined us being princes? Of the entire planet of Mercury?”

“No,” Jihoon said, resting his head on his brother’s shoulder. “I thought maybe the two of us could become successful musicians, but I didn’t imagine this kind of responsibility and attention.”

“That would have been nice.” He laid on his brother like that for awhile, with him running a hand through Jihoon’s hair. He felt calm for the first time in a long while. Then, quietly, so quiet Jihoon wasn’t sure if he was supposed to hear it or not, Kihyun spoke.

“This all really came as a surprise to you, huh…”

Jihoon pushed off of his brother, looking at him with a crooked brow. “What?”

Kihyun’s eyes went wide. Jihoon was positive he wasn’t supposed to hear that now. “What is it?”

“What do you mean, ‘it came as a surprise’? Of course it did. How was I supposed to predict this? You just said so yourself.”

Kihyun blinked helplessly. “Well…”

“Kihyun.” Jihoon’s voice faltered. “Did you know about this?”

His brother’s mouth hung open, before he closed it with a sigh. “I’m sorry, Jihoon. I really should have told you about this earlier, I just wasn’t sure how…”

“No.” Jihoon jerked himself off of the couch, notebook falling off his lap and sprawling open on the floor. The pages were bending. “Explain yourself. Now.”

“Please, I promise there’s an explanation,” Kihyun said, inching off of the couch and towards Jihoon. “It wasn’t too long before we were summoned here, but I started having some memories...from when I was younger. I kept seeing the palace on the news, and I told Granny that something about it felt familiar, and I started remembering all these things about when I was really little, like when I was first brought to the house and getting used to her cooking. It was really scary, realizing she wasn’t actually our grandmother, but she told me she couldn’t tell me everything yet, that our lives had so much more to them than what she had prepared us for. I begged her for more information, anything, but she said she was sworn to silence until the time was right.” He grabbed Jihoon’s hand. “She told me all she wanted was to protect us. And that I should do the same for you. I wanted to tell you, but I didn’t want to scare or confuse you since I knew so little, but I started putting things together and when I was certain I understood our past, that man showed up at our door…” He squeezed Jihoon’s hand. “I’m sorry, I was trying to protect you, I really was.”

“Well, you didn’t do a very good job.” Jihoon jerked his hand away, tears welling up and threatening to spill over at any second. He bolted out of the room before his brother could see him cry. He still called after him, chased him to his room, banged on his door and begged for him to open up and let them talk, but it was too much for Jihoon. He didn’t want to hear anything else.

He barely spoke to his brother after that.

Things were fine now, of course. Jihoon understood what it must have been like for Kihyun as he got older and understood more about their past. But it wasn’t a coincidence that Kihyun was the brother who was told everything first, who the higher officials trusted with all their secrets and gossip. It was just by design, Kihyun had always been the more approachable of the two. But still, Jihoon thought as he played with the cover of the book on his desk, it would be nice if they could share some of the burden. As far as he knew, Kihyun wasn’t the one in a mess like this right now, after all.

While he was watching the cover of the book fall back down, a paper slipped out of it and by his feet. Jihoon bent down to pick it up and noticed it was the file he stole from the Commander’s office.

“Right,” he said, scanning it with more detail. It outlined a Phoenix attack on Mercury that was able to get past the palace’s security and royal guards, and injured several members of the court. There were suspicions of the king being wounded the worst, though no official updates on his condition had been made. Jihoon vaguely remembers similar reports on the news when he was younger. Actually, it was right around the time that he was summoned to the palace…

“Wait.” Jihoon looked at the date of the report and it matched: seven years ago, right before he found out he was a prince. He remembers his father’s injury, the cane he used to support his weak leg, the horrifying peek of black he saw sometimes if his pant leg rode up too far.

Black. It was black.

He scrambled for his communicator, dialing Kihyun immediately. He held the receiver close to him, opting to use voice so his brother couldn’t see the panic on his face. He read the report over and over while he waited for a response.

“Little brother!” came Kihyun’s enthusiastic voice over the speaker. “How’s the academy going? You’ve barely contacted me in the past few weeks. Shame! I want updates! And I want to see your face, too, why are you on voice only?”

“Sorry, I don’t look too great right now, I haven’t been sleeping much,” Jihoon responded, grimacing at his brother’s barrage of questions. “I’ll call you another time with video.”

“Okay, but don’t break that promise, you hear? Your old brother’s heart is starting to break from the loneliness in this huge place! Half of your staff and crew are away now that you’re not here, even Seungkwan and Seokmin! I’m bored.”

“Kihyun! That doesn’t matter right now. I have something really important to ask you.” His grip on the paper grew tighter. “You know...how when we first arrived at the palace, Father’s leg was recovering from an injury?”

“Yeah, I remember,” Kihyun responded easily. “Wasn’t it a terrorist attack?”

“Yes, but do you remember anything else? How he was injured? Or why it took so long to heal?”

“I actually don’t know that,” Kihyun said pensively. “I know he was stabbed in the leg, apparently it tore through some muscle, but even when his leg looked fine he was wobbling for awhile after that. He was pretty secretive about it, and so was everyone else that was watching over him.”

Jihoon bit his lip. It sounded like he really didn’t know much either. “I need a favor from you.”

“Yeah?”

“Can you find out as much as you can about it? Especially about his treatment. Ask whoever you can.” He paused. “Please?”

“What’s this about, Jihoon? That happened was so long ago. Why the sudden interest?”

“It’s just something I’m looking into with all the resources I have at the academy,” he said, surprisingly calm. “Want to know about our family’s history.”

There was a long silence from Kihyun’s end, until he finally responded. “Okay.” He knew Kihyun understood that Jihoon wasn’t going to say much else, even if he didn’t believe him.

“Thank you,” Jihoon said with a sigh of relief. “Please tell me anything you discover as soon as possible.”

“You can count on me, little brother.”

Jihoon smiled at the receiver. _I should know that by now,_ he thought. Before he had a chance to hang up, Eunwoo’s words rung in his mind.

“By the way, Kihyun, do you know if we ever had any kind of...devices...implanted into our necks?”

“What!?” Kihyun shrieked from across the line.

“Never mind! Forget I even asked!”

* * *

Everything was set up perfectly. With the help of a few tools he stole from Minghao’s shop and the poking around he had done in the academy while nobody was looking, Jihoon didn’t think he’d have any problems executing his plan. He pulled on the hoodie that his brother had brought for him the day before over his training outfit. It was his excuse to come deliver information to him personally.

“Prince Jihoon, your brother is here to see you,” Jihoon was informed by someone who looked like they belonged to Junhui’s court. He was led through the academy to the palace’s entrance hall, where Kihyun was fidgeting expectantly. Jihoon couldn’t help himself as he embraced his brother tightly.

“Hey, I missed you too,” Kihyun said, rubbing his brother’s back. “I have some things to give you, will you follow me to the ship?”

“Um, Prince Kihyun—

“We’ll be right back, it should be fine, right?” Kihyun said quickly, glaring at the member of the court. “I won’t steal him back home, if that’s what you’re worried about. I think being here suits him more, anyway!” Kihyun let out a loud and very fake laugh that caused Jihoon to roll his eyes as he guided him to the ship in the landing area.

“This isn’t about the stuff you have for me, is it?” Jihoon asked once they were in the private seating area of the ship.

“Of course not,” Kihyun said, placing a bundle of Jihoon’s goods from home in his arms. “I looked into the stuff you asked me about. It’s...concerning, to say the least.”

“What did you find?”

“Let me just say, Jihoon, if you know anyone going through the same thing, you should watch them very carefully and get them help as soon as possible.”

Jihoon fastened the holster around his waist a bit tighter than he would have liked at the memory, pulling his hoodie over it. He hoped he looked inconspicuous enough to not get questioned by a possible passersby. He pulled his hood over his head and walked out the door of the bedroom in the direction of the gardens.

“Going somewhere?”

Jihoon nearly jumped out of his skin before he turned around and saw Soonyoung holding his door open, hand on his hip, displeased look on his face. He tried his best to hide his panic.

“I’m just going for a walk,” he lied, meeting Soonyoung’s sharp gaze. It was scaring Jihoon the most right now, despite the rest of his demeanor being mostly relaxed.

Soonyoung gave Jihoon a once-over, obvious enough that he knew Soonyoung was trying to tell him he wasn’t fooling anyone. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Jihoon responded flatly. They maintained their stares before Soonyoung let out a dramatic sigh.

“You’re not going to tell me, are you?”

Jihoon chewed the inside of his lip in contemplation before pushing Soonyoung back into his room and closing the door.

“Listen,” he began, leaning against the door and crossing his arms. Soonyoung sat across from him on his bed, mirroring his crossed arms. It was tense. Jihoon didn’t like it. “I don’t mind telling you what I’m about to do, but just know there’s nothing you can do to stop me. I’ve made up my mind.”

After a few moments of consideration and what seemed like pain on Soonyoung’s face, he leaned back. “Okay, go ahead.”

“Well, for starters, I think I might know what’s going on with your shoulder,” he said, putting his hands behind his back and leaning against them to stop them from trembling.

Soonyoung perked up. “Really?”

“Yeah. It’s exactly what happened to my father seven years ago.”

“What!?” Soonyoung’s voice came out like a screech now. “How do you know?”

“I had my brother do some investigating for me. I noticed the file I took from the commander’s office was about Mercury being attacked right before I became a prince. I asked him to gather some info, and there are too many similarities to be a coincidence. He was stabbed in the leg, and a weird black scar spread up his leg and caused him sudden and intense pains. They had the planet’s leading medical experts attend to him, but even then their treatments only worked temporarily. It took awhile before they could find something to completely heal him instead of just suppressing its growth.”

Soonyoung swallowed thickly. “So? What does that mean?”

“Well, there’s more,” Jihoon continued. “Kihyun told me the only thing he couldn’t find out is exactly what afflicted our father, and how they treated it. Nobody would talk about it or even seemed to know.” Jihoon thought he saw Soonyoung’s shoulders slump slightly. “But when I was at the library trying to dig up more information, I noticed something weird about one of the back shelves, and while I was scoping it out, Minghao’s blade started reacting to it. Or should I say, it started reacting to Minghao’s blade.”

Soonyoung gasped. “If it’s in the library, does that mean…”

“Yes, I’m pretty sure it was the passageway we saw on the map at the office. Eventually the shelf propped open like a door after I pressed the blade to some weird sensor.”

“Did you go inside?” Soonyoung asked.

“Of course. It led me to some stairs, which then led me to more stairs, and a tunnel. I went down the tunnel, and after awhile there was another door just like the one I had come in through, with even more stairs on the opposite end. I had to use the blade to open the door, and there was a ladder attached to a wall. After going all the way up, I came out in the gardens where we saw that manhole cover with the Phoenix symbol on it.”

“Oh, shit,” Soonyoung said under his breath.

“Wonwoo told me that the academy was a military base in the past, extending to the underground,” Jihoon said. “Given that and the symbol on the manhole cover, I’m going to guess Phoenix are operating out of the old base beneath the ground.”

“Is that where you’re going right now?” Soonyoung asked. His voice had lowered to something careful.

“Yes, but not just to look around,” Jihoon explained, looking at his shoes now. “I asked Minghao about the blade, and it turns out it was made from material mined from an asteroid far outside the solar system. When I looked into it, it looked like nobody had been there in decades because of a deadly and mysterious virus. I think they used that virus to create the poison that was injected in you through the blade.”

Soonyoung stared at Jihoon, blinking in confusion. “Wait. There are so many things going on. What does this all mean, Jihoon?”

“I think,” Jihoon said with finality, “that Phoenix have a supply of this virus that they are using to their advantage. They probably use this asteroid for resources, or at least they did at some point, since the blade reacted to a pathway leading to their hideout, as well. There could be a lot of benefits to investigating their hideout, but most importantly, if we find their stash of the virus, then we can probably have Eunwoo use it to make a cure for you.”

“And you intended to do this by yourself?” Soonyoung asked quietly, sitting completely still.

Jihoon swallowed thickly. “Yes.”

After a tense silence, Soonyoung propped himself off the bed. “Okay,” he said, moving towards his closet, back facing Jihoon.

“Okay?” Jihoon repeated after a moment. “That’s all? You’re not gonna try to stop me?”

“Of course not,” Soonyoung responded over his shoulder, throwing something on the bed. It looked like his training outfit. “I’m going to join you.”

Jihoon felt like the air was knocked out of his lungs. “Soonyoung—”

“Do you really think I’m going to let you do this by yourself? Just for me?” Soonyoung said, pulling his t-shirt off. He looked right at Jihoon as he held the training top. It was hard to maintain eye contact, considering his chest was bare and the black scar had spread up the side of his neck and there was a strong look of conviction in his eyes. “You keep thinking of all the risks to take while I’ve barely done anything. The least I can do is tag along, especially when this is the most dangerous idea you’ve had so far. I’ve made up my mind, too. I can’t just sit around while you’re putting your life on the line for me.”

Jihoon looked away then, feeling guilty. _It’s not just for you_ , he thought, remembering their frightening battle at the gym.

“I would feel better if you were with me,” he admitted, voice small.

“Good!” Soonyoung responded, pulling his pants up in a sweeping motion. “That’s what I’m here for.” He stood in front of Jihoon now, goofy grin on his face despite the determination burning in his eyes. “Let’s not keep these jerks waiting, shall we?”

* * *

They stopped by Jihoon’s room to grab a hoodie for Soonyoung, as well (“I’m going to stand out too much next to you!” he insisted), before heading to the gardens and entering through the manhole.

“Isn’t this a little suspicious?” Soonyoung asked, glancing around them. “Just us two walking alone in the middle of the night? There’s no way they aren’t monitoring us constantly at their base.”

“Don’t worry,” Jihoon said, eyes trained ahead. “I made sure that was taken care of.” He took a small device out of the holster and waved it around with a smirk. “This disrupts the signals of the security cameras.”

“Whoa,” Soonyoung said with a gasp. “How did you get that?”

“Borrowed it from Minghao,” Jihoon answered smoothly.

Soonyoung’s eyes narrowed. “Borrowed it? Or stole it?”

“I’m going to give it back once I’m done,” Jihoon retorted, putting it back in its pocket. “You have no place to speak, anyway. Didn’t you ‘borrow’ his ship too when we left the academy?”

“That was one time!” Soonyoung shouted, causing Jihoon to glare back at him. He raised his hands in defense before coming up close next to Jihoon, looking over his shoulder.

“Got anything for me in there?”

Jihoon scoffed. “As if you don’t always keep weapons on your person anyway.”

“You’re not entirely wrong…” Soonyoung said, letting out a shy laugh. “We’re gonna need some more stuff if we’re sneaking into enemy territory, though. What’s in your belt of secrets?”

“I’ve got a few extra weapons, along with my asteroid blade,” Jihoon began. “I also have some smoke bombs, small grenades, and a grappling hook.” Soonyoung’s eyes widened at the mention of the last item and Jihoon shrugged. “What? I’ve always wanted to use one, so I figured, why not?”

“Ha! You’ve never used a grappling hook?” Soonyoung laughed while Jihoon smacked him in the arm.

“Don’t brag!” Jihoon hissed. After a few more giggles from Soonyoung, their bickering faded into an easy silence.

“We really do make a good team, huh,” Soonyoung mused from beside him. “It feels like we’re actually working together this time. I think we can do this.”

“We damn well better,” Jihoon answered back. “This isn’t exactly something we can afford to screw up. I don’t know how we’ll make your shoulder better otherwise.”

“I’m just glad you let me come along,” Soonyoung continued. “I was afraid after that sparring incident the other day, you didn’t want to talk to me. I barely saw you after that.”

“You were the one who kept missing on class and practices and our study sessions!”

“Well, maybe if someone hadn’t thrown me onto the ground…”

Jihoon frowned. The memory was like a stabbing pain in his chest. “I know. I’m sorry.” He clenched his fist. “I’ve been in my own head so much since then, I just…I don’t want anything like it to happen again. That’s why I’ve been working so hard to figure out what’s going on.”

“You don’t have to do it alone, Jihoon.” Soonyoung placed a tender hand on Jihoon’s back and and another pang of guilt washed over Jihoon at the concern on his face. “Whatever is on your mind, whatever you’re thinking about, you can tell me. Even if it’s just your worries, your doubts, your fears. You don’t have to suffer by yourself. You can share them with me.”

Jihoon smiled despite himself. He wanted to tell Soonyoung about his own condition, and that he was afraid that he was poisoned, too, but the words couldn’t even begin forming themselves on his tongue. He swallowed his thoughts instead and looked away, unable to meet his sincere eyes.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Jihoon managed to say. “Thank you, Soonyoung.”

“I mean it! And you don’t sound too convinced.” Soonyoung brought his pointer finger up to Jihoon’s face, almost poking him in the nose. “If anything is weighing on your mind, you will come to me, right? You promise?”

“Yes! God, okay, I promise!” Jihoon groaned. “Even when you’re being supportive, you’re so annoying.”

  
“I suppose that’s one of my specialties,” Soonyoung said with a grin. “Being annoying at everything I do.”

 _It’s especially annoying how you’ve crept your way into my heart_ , Jihoon thought. But he didn’t tell Soonyoung that.

Jihoon was shaken out of his thoughts by the bitter cold of the evening as they made their way outside of the academy. Jihoon led the way through the bushes, so they didn’t bring attention to themselves on the paths of the garden.

“It should be around here,” Jihoon whispered when there was a clearing in the bushes. Soonyoung found it after nearly stumbling on the handle of the cover, doing his best to help Jihoon open it. They decided that he should go first, followed by Soonyoung, who would seal the manhole again. Once they made their way down the long ladder, they stood in front of a door much like the one Jihoon had seen at the library.

“Let’s go over the plan one last time,” Jihoon said, taking the blade out of his waistband. It was already glowing. “Once we’re inside, we’re going to stay together no matter what. We try our best to find a vantage point, and figure out the easiest path to the area where they could be studying or testing the virus. We might have to check a few places, so this could be messy, and we need to stay as undetected as possible. Fighting is only a last resort. The last thing we want is for them to discover we have walked into their territory where they can easily dispose of us.” He glanced at Soonyoung. “Clear?”

“Clear,” Soonyoung responded back with a nod.

“Alright,” Jihoon said, breathing shallowly. He brought his blade to the sensor near the door, which came to life immediately and unlocked the door with a swish. It propped open, and they made their way inside, beginning their descent down the stairs.

“There are so many flights of stairs,” Soonyoung said, huffing out a breath.

“Hard to believe this was already here, and it wasn’t built with such care just for Phoenix,” Jihoon mused. “The military on this planet must have been very private.”

“Seems like it,” Soonyoung responded. “I don’t recall hearing much about—” Soonyoung almost ran into Jihoon, who was frozen to a halt on the stairs.

“Listen closely,” Jihoon said lowly. “Do you hear that?”

Soonyoung stilled his own movements, and a faint bustle became audible in the stairwell. They exchanged cautious glances.

“We must be close,” Jihoon said. “Let’s proceed with caution.”

They made the rest of their way down the stairs, crouching against the railing, hands on their weapons. After descending a few flights, a small, worn-down door became visible at the foot of the stairs. They both approached the door and pressed themselves against the wall on either side.

Jihoon tried his best to look through the tiny window down the hallway in the base. “This side looks clear to me. Can you see anything?”

“Barely, but I think it should be clear. I haven’t seen movement in awhile.”

“Alright.” Jihoon took a deep breath. “Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

They exchanged a nod before Jihoon cracked the door open, peering outside. As suspected, the hallway was empty. He gave Soonyoung a nod and he followed, letting the door close quietly behind him. They moved down the hall in absolute silence, only passing a few storage and electric rooms along the way. Eventually, the hallway rounded into a corner, and Jihoon looked around it cautiously.

“There’s a clearing ahead,” Jihoon informed Soonyoung. “I can see a railing and an opening.”

“Let’s go,” Soonyoung answered tersely before they began to move. The path leading to the clearing crossed a few other hallways, stressing Jihoon every time he checked around the corners. Soonyoung dutifully watched their back, huffing out a tiny “good” each time he checked their surroundings. Jihoon was thankful for that, and thankful that the base seemed so deserted at this time of night.

When they reached the railing, they both looked over the edge to find a huge hole, around which the base seemed to be built. Many of the passageways spanning across several levels could be seen from where they stood, but they were both too focused on a large device that was near the bottom of the opening.

“The design of this base is...interesting,” Jihoon noted. “It was definitely built around something that they were trying to assemble here. Maybe a rocket?”

“Yeah, but it looks like it’s being used for something else now,” Soonyoung added. “What is that thing?”

“No clue. I’m sure it’s nothing good, though.” As Soonyoung began watching their backs again, Jihoon looked around at the windows in view, trying to decipher if any could lead them to the virus they were looking for. A bright room with blinding white walls caught his eye.

“Look over there, Soonyoung. That looks like a lab.”

Soonyoung turned his attention briefly to where Jihoon had pointed. “You’re right. But how do we get over there?”

“We could probably look for a staircase in here, but that would probably take awhile, and we might lose track of where the room is.” Jihoon looked at Soonyoung expectantly, who was busy staring in the direction of the lab. Eyes narrowed, he looked up and down carefully, then finally turned to Jihoon.

“Can I see that grappling hook?”

Jihoon raised an eyebrow. “Sure.” He handed Soonyoung the gun, who examined it closely for a few moments before smiling to himself.

By the time Jihoon realized what Soonyoung was thinking, it was too late. “Soonyoung, wait, you’re not planning on—”

“Hold on, Jihoonie,” he said, wrapping an arm tightly around Jihoon’s’ waist before pointing the gun with precision and firing. Jihoon instinctively threw his arms around Soonyoung’s neck, holding on for dear life and, thankfully, being too shocked to even scream. He closed his eyes tightly, and within moments, Soonyoung loosened his grip on his waist, setting him down gently.

“Jesus fucking Christ, some warning would be nice next time,” Jihoon seethed.

“Well, your dream of using the grappling hook came true, didn’t it?”

“I wasn’t even the one to fire it, asshole.” Jihoon snatched it out of Soonyoung’s hands, tucking it back into the holster. He couldn’t complain much, though, because they landed right in front of the room Jihoon had noticed; and now that they were much closer, it was obvious that it was, indeed, a lab. Within moments, he saw movement inside and ducked down, yanking on Soonyoung’s sweater to pull him down with him. After a few seconds, he heard a door opening and the sound of footsteps walking away from them. When the footsteps sounded far enough away, Jihoon peered inside the room again.

“It’s hard to tell where things are from out here,” Jihoon said, squinting. “We’re gonna have to go inside to look around.”

“It looks like the entrance is on the opposite side,” Soonyoung added.

“Okay. Follow my lead.”

They made it inside the lab safely, splitting up to look around the room more efficiently. Jihoon approached a window that looked over the opening, inspecting the vials and bottles laid out on the table beneath it.

“You’d think there would be more security in here,” Soonyoung quipped from across the room. “I’m shocked how easy it was to get in here with the right tools. And that nobody has come after us since we got in here.”

“It’s probably because of the disruptor I took from Minghao,” Jihoon muttered. “Works for us, so I’m not complaining.” He read the labels on each bottle, recognizing a lot of them from Eunwoo’s own lab. It made him sick.

“You know, isn’t it weird that Minghao got ahold of that weapon? Why would he have something so closely tied to the enemy?”

“He said he found it on a mission long ago,” Jihoon explained. He stared out the window, getting a better view of the equipment at the bottom of the opening. “He didn’t even know where it was from until recently, when someone analyzed the material it—” His words were cut off the moment his mind put together the pieces of equipment he saw. His stomach lurched and he broke out into a cold sweat, eyes widening in horror.

“Oh thank goodness, I think I found it,” Soonyoung breathed out. “Come on, let’s get the hell out of here. This place gives me the heebie-jeebies.” When Jihoon didn’t move, he felt Soonyoung’s presence behind him. “Jihoon?”

“Soonyoung,” Jihoon began, breathing staggered. “I think I know what they’re building down there.”

Before Soonyoung had a chance to ask, they heard the door handle jostle. They hastily ducked behind the counter in the middle of the room as soon as someone entered. Jihoon pulled his hood over his head and Soonyoung followed, eyes trained on either corner of the counter.

“Ugh, I can’t believe I lost it,” came the new voice. It sounded familiar, Jihoon thought, like the woman who came to bother Eunwoo at the clinic. He gritted his teeth in silence. “Where the hell could I have put it? It has to be around here somewhere...”

Her footsteps approached them, only steps away from rounding the corner. Jihoon put his pointer finger to his lips, letting Soonyoung know to stay quiet and grabbed for a pocket on his holster. When the figure came into view Jihoon set off the smoke bomb in his grip and grabbed hold of Soonyoung’s hand in one fell swoop, tugging him in the opposite direction out the door.

“Hey!” Jihoon heard once they were running away from the lab. He turned to catch a glimpse of their guest and it was, in fact, the officer that he met at the clinic. He saw her run over to the opposite side of the hall and pull on a handle, causing an alarm to go off across the base.

“That’s not good!” Soonyoung yelled out behind him. The distant sound of thudding footsteps could be heard.

“We have to focus on finding the exit,” Jihoon shouted over the blaring of the sirens. “Look for a staircase so we can get back to the first level.”

“On it, but did you notice what’s coming after us?” Soonyoung gestured forward, and from the look of it, a swarm of sentry robots similar to the ones from the forest were heading towards them.

Jihoon groaned. “Let’s just do our best to avoid them for now.” Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a staircase. “This way!”

As they turned the corner, Soonyoung expertly shot at the ceiling, debris falling and blocking the path to the staircase. They ran up the stairs, sound of approaching footsteps not too far behind them. As they ran up the last flight of stairs, Jihoon tossed a small hand grenade to the bottom of the stairs.

“That should take care of that,” he said as they exited into the hallway, sounds of the explosion behind them.

“The exit to the tunnels should be this way,” Soonyoung said, pulling Jihoon along. It wasn’t long before they found the door, running up the flight of stairs. Soonyoung occasionally turned to shoot at the stray soldiers that approached them.

“They just don’t stop coming!” Soonyoung shouted. “There’s so many of them!”

“Just a few more flights of stairs,” Jihoon assured him. Once they reached the top he took the blade out from his waistband. He pressed it to the sensor and the door began opening slowly.

“I think we shook most of them off,” Soonyoung said. “At least we can escape safely.”

“Yeah, I—” Jihoon trailed off, falling to his knees as a searing pain shot through his head. Not now, he thought, consciousness going in and out slowly.

“Jihoon? Hey!” Soonyoung kneeled beside him, trying his best to support him. “What’s wrong? What’s going on!?”

All Jihoon could manage was to grab his head with his free hand, holding his other arm up to keep the blade on the sensor. He couldn’t form any words, trying his hardest to hold onto control of his own mind. Distantly, he heard approaching footsteps, but his legs felt weak beneath him. He couldn’t move.

“Jihoon!” Soonyoung urged, grabbing onto his hand, trying to get him off the floor. “Come on! There’s more coming! We have to get out of here!”

Jihoon’s hand slipped off the sensor, trying to push himself off the ground. Soonyoung held the door open with his body, pleading look in his eyes. His grip on the blade was weak, all he could manage to not lose it in the commotion.

Jihoon heard the footsteps ascend up the last flight of stairs, and with the little strength in his body, he shoved Soonyoung through the door. Fear washed over Soonyoung’s expression as it slammed shut behind him, leaving Jihoon alone with the army of robots.

* * *

Jihoon staggered his way through the halls of the academy. He wasn’t injured badly after his solo encounter with the sentry soldiers—just a little scuffed up—but he was still dizzy from fighting for control of his body. It was much worse than last time, he thought, perhaps because he actually fought against whatever was trying to possess him. He managed to fling his blade right at the head of one of the soldiers, causing it to short-circuit and fall backwards, taking half of the others with it. He rolled another hand grenade down the stairs to take care of the rest, and after regaining most of his composure through shallow breaths, he pushed himself off the ground and yanked the blade out of the head of the robot. He made his way to the library exit, knowing he didn’t have the strength to keep himself balanced on a metal ladder.

He was thankful that the library was for some reason unattended when he made his way through, dragging his feet through the halls to his room. When he turned the corner, he noticed a figure curled up in a ball right beside his door. It had to be Soonyoung. With a burst of energy born from concern, he straightened himself up and approached the door.

“Jihoon…” He heard Soonyoung mumble. He sounded like he was on the verge of tears.

“You rang?”

Soonyoung looked up in shock, jumping to his feet and wrapping Jihoon in a tight hold. Jihoon made a noise of protest but did little to nothing to resist the embrace.

“Thank god you’re safe,” Soonyoung whispered into his hair. “I was so worried, Jihoon. I had no idea what happened after that door closed.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want us to lose the only chance of curing your shoulder that we tried so hard to get,” Jihoon said. “I needed it to get back safely.”

  
“I needed you to get back safely,” Soonyoung responded. “What was I supposed to do if you got hurt? What am I supposed to do without you here, with me?”

Jihoon’s heart jumped at Soonyoung’s words. He stayed quiet, hands balling in a fist around the fabric of Soonyoung’s sweater. This time, he knew he was indulging himself, and he didn’t care. His mind had become a dark abyss and Soonyoung was the moon illuminating every corner, guiding him, grounding him.

“Listen,” Soonyoung said, gripping Jihoon by the shoulders as he pulled away. “Let’s stop all of this. No more investigating, no more dangerous missions. There’s too much risk involved. I don’t want to see you get hurt anymore. I can’t bear it. Let’s just do what we can to stay safe while we’re still here, okay?”

Jihoon opened his mouth to complain, but he felt his heart crumbling at the sadness on Soonyoung’s face. The longer he went without responding, the tighter Soonyoung gripped onto his shoulders, until he finally said, “Okay.”

“Okay. Good.” Soonyoung brought a hand up to Jihoon’s face to brush the hair away from his eyes. “Let’s get some rest for tonight. You look like you really need it. I’m going to keep the vial with the virus, and if you have any trouble sleeping again, I’m right next door, alright?”

Jihoon closed his eyes and nodded, exhaustion setting into his bones. Maybe it was because of his tired state, but he let a smile slip past his lips, warmth of Soonyoung’s fingertips still lingering on his forehead.

“Oh, but, Jihoon.” He opened his eyes, and was met with Soonyoung’s furrowed brows. “Back there, at the base, you said you figured out what they were building at the bottom. What was it?”

Jihoon felt the warmth leave his body a harsh chill went down his spine.

“They’re building a bomb.”

* * *

The next morning, Jihoon and Soonyoung sat anxiously outside of the Commander’s office, waiting to be called in. The events of the previous night weighed on their minds and showed on their faces, particularly Jihoon. The bags under his eyes when he looked in the mirror that morning were abysmal. Her officers looked tense, some of them angry, even. Jihoon wondered how many of them were involved with Phoenix, thinking back to the one that he saw in the base.

“Hello, boys,” Jiyoung said, causing both of them to jump. She greeted them both with a smile. “Come in.”

Jihoon and Soonyoung reluctantly took a seat in front of the Commander’s desk. It was tidied up, Jihoon noticed, probably after her scare with the missing files. He folded his hands in his lap politely, waiting for her to speak.

“Thank you for coming on such short notice,” she said, still smiling. “I have some exciting news for you.”

Jihoon’s eyebrows raised at this. “What’s going on?”

“It’s about your completion of the program,” she explained. “Next week, you two will be graduating.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ready to yell at me? you can do so on [twitter](https://twitter.com/floweroads)!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Art for match your tune with mine](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15549789) by [svtbigbang_mod](https://archiveofourown.org/users/svtbigbang_mod/pseuds/svtbigbang_mod)




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